Les Meowsrables
by eclectic.mouse
Summary: What do you get when you cross a smash hit Broadway book-turned-musical and a bestselling book series about talking cats? Les Meowsrables of course! (Mostly) original names, not Warriors characters.
1. Prologue Work Song

**Author Note: Well hello there! So glad you decided to read my very first story! It's just the general libretto of Les Misérables, but changed a bit to fit the Warriors universe and to sound like spoken dialogue. It's going to be reeeally long (the musical is over 3 hours) so I hope you stick with this until the end. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: Prologue/Work Song**

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The cloak of night lifted, revealing a silent cluster of ragged bodies led by a large, lean figure. They halted at a fallen tree blocking the entrance to a cave. Following a curt yowl from their supervisor, the convicts set to work.

"Look down, look down, don't look 'em in the eye," they chanted, grunting as they struggled to lift the tree. "Look down, look down, you're here until you die."

"The sun is so strong!" wailed a small white tom. "It's burning the fur right off of me!"

"Look down, look down, you've twenty moons to go," recited the rest.

"I've done no wrong! Great StarClan, hear my prayer!" meowed a mangy ginger cat.

"Look down, look down, great StarClan doesn't care," the convicts repeated in response.

"I know she'll wait," a weary tabby tom murmured wistfully. "I know that she'll be true."

"Look down, look down, they've all forgotten you."

"When I get free, you won't see me, here for dust!" yowled a black and white tom.

"Look down, look down, don't look 'em in the eye," muttered the convicts.

"How long, oh StarClan, before you let me die?" cried a scrawny gray cat.

"Look down, look down, you'll always be a slave. Look down, look down, you're standing in your grave," they droned on.

When at last the tree was out of the way, the prisoners shuffled into a disorganized line. They were all here for a different reason – eating before kits and elders were fed, hunting on another Clan's territory, or perhaps disobeying the Clan leader, Kestrelstar.

No doubt, he was the cruelest leader ThunderClan had ever known.

In order to ensure his own health, he set up the policy that all the fresh-kill caught immediately went to himself, the medicine cat, and his deputy, Stoneheart, forcing the warriors and apprentices to hunt for themselves the elders, and the kits when they could. He had Stoneheart gather the group of cats who had made the most serious offenses to the Warrior Code and lead them on never ending journeys of dirty work he himself didn't want to do.

Today it was removing a fallen tree that was blocking the entrance to the Mothermouth.

"Prisoner 24601!" roared Stoneheart.

The cluster of convicts parted to reveal a muscular, gaunt brown tabby tom with coarse, patchy fur. He padded forward and dipped his head in submission.

"Your time is up and your parole's begun," mewed Stoneheart. "Do you know what that means?"

The prisoner's face lit up. "Yes, it means I'm free!" he purred.

"NO!" snapped Stoneheart. "It means you get your ticket of leave. You're a thief, for StarClan's sake!"

"I stole a single mouse," grumbled 24601.

"You robbed Kestrelstar's den!" shot back the tabby deputy.

"I only tore his moss bedding!" cried 24601. "My sister's kit was close to death, and we were starving!"

"You will starve again unless you know the meaning of the Warrior Code!"

"I know the meaning of those nineteen moons … a slave of Kestrelstar."

"Five moons for what you did, and the rest because you tried to run! Yes, 24601 – "

"My name is _Thrushclaw_," spat the convict.

"And I'm Stoneheart. Do not forget my name. Do not forget me, _24601!_"

With that, Stoneheart flicked his tail, motioning for Thrushclaw to turn to the side. The deputy dabbed his paw in a patch of mud from last night's rain and smeared an "x" on Thrushclaw's shoulder.

"Return in one moon," Stoneheart meowed. "If the mud is gone from your shoulder…" he paused. "Remember Nettlefang?"

Thrushclaw gulped.

"Off with you," hissed the tabby deputy.

"Look down, look down, you'll always be a slave," chanted the convicts as Thrushclaw bounded away. "Look down, look down, you're standing in your grave…"

Their haunting words echoed in Thrushclaw's torn ears even as he stopped for a drink at a pool far from Highstones.

"Freedom is mine," he whispered. "The forest is still. I breathe again. And the sky clears, the world is waiting." He took a sip of the cool, refreshing water and wondered when it had last tasted this delicious.

"Never forget the seasons, the waste," he murmured. "Nor forgive them, for what they've done to me. _They_ are the guilty, every cat. The day begins and now let's see, what this new world will do for me."

Suddenly, it hit him. Thrushclaw had nowhere to go. He obviously couldn't go back to ThunderClan, Stoneheart would imprison him again. Thrushclaw decided to head to WindClan.

Two cats were patrolling the borders, a gray tabby tom and a white she-cat.

"You'll have to go, but here's a bit of rabbit for the day," meowed the tom after Thrushclaw requested shelter. "Collect the bits and pieces there and be on your way."

"You've given me half what another helpless cat would get! This pile of crow-food isn't worth my sweat!" growled Thrushclaw.

"You broke the Warrior Code, it's there for us to see," the she-cat mewed, motioning with her tail to the mark on Thrushclaw's shoulder. "Why should you get the same as an honest warrior like me?"

Dejected, Thrushclaw bounded away and found himself nearing ThunderClan territory.

"Now every cat has looks down on me," meowed the convict. "Another taunt, another sneer, another scorning insult. For when I come to any cat, they look me over and they find my mark of shame. In their eyes, I see their fear… 'We do not want you here…'"

Thrushclaw sighed in dismay and spotted a barn. He proceeded to stride in but saw that it was already swarming with cats, and two were gobbling mice that the ones around them hunted in return for a stay at their barn.

One of them, a longhaired calico she-cat, padded over and mewed, "Our barn is full, and we've no fresh-kill to spare." A brown she-cat bounded to her and dropped a vole at her paws. "We'd like to help you, and we want to be fair," she snickered.

"I-I will pay in advance!" sputtered Thrushclaw. "I can sleep anywhere! Do you see how dark it is outside? I'm not some kind of mangy rat!" The she-cat's tabby companion joined her and looked Thrushclaw up and down.

"You leave my barn," he hissed, "or feel the pain of my claws. We wouldn't hide a fugitive, and I don't give a whisker what anyone thinks." The tabby promptly shoved Thrushclaw out the door.

"Now I know how freedom feels," growled the convict. "'It is the law!' they say. The mud on my fur makes me cursed throughout the forest! 'It is the law!'" Thrushclaw turned away from ThunderClan. "Like a rogue, I roam the forest… my pads are aching…"

Thrushclaw sat down to rest when a longhaired gray tom passed him, a mouse in his mouth. He put it down and prodded Thrushclaw with his tail.

"Follow me, for you are weary," he mewed. "And the night is cold out here. Though my life is very humble, what I have, I have to share." The tom led the disbelieving Thrushclaw to a small clearing.

"There is water to revive you," the loner told the convict, pointing to a small stream. "Here's a mouse to make you strong," the silver tom continued, dropping his catch in front of a rather incredulous Thrushclaw, who quickly gobbled it up. "You can rest here till morning, rest from pain, and rest from wrong."

Thrushclaw thanked the silver tom, who nodded and scampered off to hunt again.

"He let me eat my fill," Thrushclaw whispered when the loner was out of earshot. "I-I ate like all of LionClan!" The silver tom returned later with more fresh-kill, which he placed neatly under a bush. The loner then proceeded to sleep next to it.

"That fresh-kill over there," muttered Thrushclaw, "is twice what I had eaten in all my years slaving away for Kestrelstar! That lifetime of despair, the mud on my shoulder, and yet he trusted me. The old loner trusted me!"

Thrushclaw silently padded over to the bush, being careful not to wake the old tom. "I played the grateful mouse-brain and thanked him like I should, but when the forest is still, I'll get up in the night, take the fresh-kill…" Thrushclaw dragged out a mouse and a vole.

"Take my FLIGHT!" he roared, bounding away from the clearing as fast as his paws could take him, leaving his shame, his pain and his savior far behind him as he dived deeper and deeper into the endless forest.

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**Author Note: Hope you liked the first chapter. Also, watch out for the two cats running the barn hotel. They'll be back...**


	2. What Have I done?

**Author Note: Well, here's chapter 2!**

******Chapter 2: Thrusclaw Arrested, Thrushclaw Forgiven/What Have I Done?**

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Thrushclaw slumped to the ground before the silver gray tom, a convict once more.

"Tell the cat your story," growled the golden brown tabby who had found Thrushclaw gobbling fresh-kill stolen from the friendly gray loner on a patrol.

"Let's see if he's impressed," snickered the tabby's ginger companion.

"You were resting here last night," continued the tabby.

"You were the honest cat's guest," snarled the ginger.

"And then, out of his own goodness…"

"When he learned about your plight…"

"You claim he made a present of that mouse – "

"That is right!" interrupted the loner, drawing shocked faces from the two warriors.

"But, my friend, you left so early," mewed the silver tom, turning to Thrushclaw. "Surely something slipped your mind!" He reached a paw underneath a bush and drew out a fresh squirrel. "I forgot, I gave this also, would you leave the best behind?" A very surprised Thrushclaw poked a paw at the squirrel.

"My friends, you may release him. This cat has spoken true. You have done your duty, and now you are dismissed." The two Clan cats sniffed and padded away.

"Remember this, my friend," meowed the loner to Thrushclaw when the other cats were out of earshot. "I see in this some higher plan. You must eat this squirrel and become an honest cat."

"Th-th-thank you," stuttered Thrushclaw, still shaken by the loner's kindness when so many other cats denied it from him.

He sat down to rest while the loner went hunting.

"What have I done, great StarClan, what have I done…" Thrushclaw meowed, when the loner was out of earshot, "become a thief in the night, become a rogue on the run… and have I fallen so far, and is the day so late, that nothing remains but the cry of my hate? The cries in the dark, that no cat hears, here where I stand at the turning of the seasons!"

Thrushclaw took a bite of his squirrel and gazed up at the sliver of a moon hanging above him. "If there's another way to go, I missed it twenty long moons ago! My life was a battle that could never be won, they gave me a number and they murdered Thrushclaw! When they beat me and left me for dead… just for swiping a single mouse!"

The prisoner sighed and rested his head on the soft ground. "Yet, why did I allow this cat to touch my soul and teach me love? He treated me like any other. He gave me his trust, he looked after me like his own brother! Can such things be? For I had come to hate the world, this world that always hated me!"

"Take an eye for an eye!" he yowled. "Turn your heart into stone! This is all I have lived for, this is all I have known!"

"One word from him and I'd be back," Thrushclaw panted, "Beneath the claws upon my fur! Instead he offers me my freedom. I feel my shame inside me like claws on my belly! He thinks I have a soul, how does he know? What spirit comes to move my life? Is there another way to go?"

The convict slowly padded over to the stream snaking around the side of the clearing. He dipped his head to take a sip.

"I am reaching, but I fall," he sobbed. "And the night is closing in. And I stare into this stream, to the whirlpool of my crimes."

A look of fierce determination suddenly crossed Thrushclaw's worn, ragged face. "I'll escape now, from that world, form the world of Thrushclaw! Thrushclaw is nothing now! Another story must begin!"

Thrushclaw knew what to do. He would be back. He would become an honest cat, just like he promised the silver loner. But he couldn't return as Thrushclaw. He would be different. No one would recognize him.

With a ferocious yowl the once-prisoner plunged into the icy stream, wiping away the mud on his shoulder and his past with it.

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**Author Note: You like? Hope so!**


	3. At the End of the Day

**Author Note: Hey there, it's me again. Hope you like this chapter.**

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**Chapter 3: At the End of the Day **

Eight Moons Later…

Kestrelstar's cruel orders were still established, as well as a whole Clan of malnourished warriors.

. . .

A skinny, underfed tortoiseshell she-cat deposited the last hunting patrol's catch at the mouth of Kestrelstar's den. With one last ravenous look, she stumbled off toward her mate.

"At the end of the day you're another day older, and that's all you can say for the life of we warriors," she grumbled.

"It's a struggle, it's one big battle, and there's nothing anyone's giving us, one more day standing about, what is it for?" muttered the tortoiseshell's ginger mate.

"One day less to be living!" jeered a scrawny gray tom, joining the conversation. "At the end of the day you're another day colder, and your fur is too thin to keep out the chill."

"Kestrelstar and Stoneheart don't even seem to hear the kits crying, and leaf-bare is coming on fast, ready to kill," added a brown tabby she-cat standing outside of the nursery.

"One day nearer to dying!" scoffed the gray tom.

As if he had heard the cats' conversation, Stoneheart suddenly emerged from Kestrelstar's den and sent them out on a border patrol.

"At the end of the day there's another day dawning, and the sun in the morning is ready to rise," murmured the ginger tom as he, the tortoiseshell, the gray tom, and the tabby she-cat slipped through the gorse tunnel.

"Like the river splashing the sides of the bank," mewed the tabby.

"Like a storm that'll break any second!" added the tortoiseshell.

The gray tom huffed anxiously. "There's a hunger in the Clan, there's a reckoning still to be reckoned, and we're gonna be turned in to crowfood sooner or later…"

"…At the end of the day!" meowed all four cats.

Meanwhile, the medicine cat's den was bustling with three cats tidying up while the medicine cat, Gorsepelt, tended to a kit who refused to swallow an herb. The pale gray she-cat dutifully sorting herbs, Shortfur, had been Gorsepelt's apprentice, and the two others, Ravenwing and Goldentail, were young warriors assisting the medicine cat for the perks of fresh-kill everyday. The assistants sat chatting until Gorsepelt flicked their ears with his tail.

"At the end of the day you two get nothing for nothing. Sitting flat on your tails, won't get you any fresh-kill."

"Without this job, we'd be starving," mewed Goldentail, repeating one of Gorsepelt's many lectures.

"And we've got to eat," added Ravenwing.

"And we're lucky to be in this den…"

"And in a clan…"

"And we're counting our blessings!" meowed Ravenwing and Goldentail.

As soon as Gorsepelt returned to the sick kit, the two she-cats continued whispering.

"Have you seen how Gorsepelt is fuming today? With his terrible breath and his clumsy paws?" mewed Goldentail.

"It's because little Shortfur is acting suspicious," smirked Ravenwing.

"Better avoid her, we don't want to get punished for another cat's problems," hissed the ginger tabby.

"And no one ever knows, when Gorsepelt is yowling at us," meowed her sleek black companion.

"If Shortfur won't come clean, watch how she goes…"

"She'll be gone for good!" snickered the assistants.

Suddenly, a young kit, nearly apprentice age, scrambled into the medicine cat's den. Everyone knew she was the kit of two loners who wanted her to grow up in ThunderClan. Sometimes she would visit her parents for a day or two and then return to the Clan.

Shortfur gasped. "Not now, Rainkit!" the she-cat mewed softly.

"Mother wants to tell you something," The blue-gray kit told Shortfur.

"Can you tell me later? I'm very busy…"

"What have we here, little innocent sister?" asked Goldentail.

"Come on, little Rainkit, let's have all the news!" meowed Ravenwing.

Rainkit turned to Shortfur and declared, rather loudly, "Mother says you must send us more fresh-kill! There's not enough for your kit!" And with that, the little kit scampered out of the den to join her friends.

"This is none of your business," hissed Shortfur at the three shocked and scorning faces staring back at her. "With a kit I adopted and a bit on the side! Is there anyone here who can swear before StarClan, she has nothing to fear, she has nothing to hide?"

The medicine cat's den suddenly erupted with anger as all four cats argued and bickered fiercely.

Suddenly, hearing all the commotion, a lean, muscular brown tabby tom poked his head into the den. His fur was neatly groomed and he was unusually well-fed. This particular warrior had been a loner with excellent hunting skills and had joined ThunderClan a couple of moons ago. Thanks to his exceptional talent, he was considered most likely to be the next deputy.

"What is this fighting all about? Will someone tear these two apart? This is the medicine cat's den, not a battlefield!" yowled the newcomer.

"Come on, settle down! Listen to me, I am a senior warrior!" The tabby turned to Gorsepelt and mewed, "Please sort this out, and be as patient as you can."

Gorsepelt whipped around to face the she-cats. "Now someone say how this began!" he growled.

"At the end of the day she's the one who began it!" meowed Ravenwing, gesturing with her tail toward Shortfur.

"There's a kit that she's hiding somewhere in the forest!" added Goldentail.

"There's a cat she has to pay, and guess how she picks up the extra!"

"You can bet she's surviving off of Kestrelstar's fresh-kill pile!"

"And he wouldn't like it!" The three cats turned to Shortfur, who had a look of desperation on her face.

"Yes," she mewed. "Yes it's true, there's a kit and the kit is my daughter. And her father abandoned us leaving us flat. Now she lives with a loner and his mate, and I pay for the kit…" Gorsepelt's eyes narrowed.

"What's the matter with that?" the she-cat whispered despairingly.

"At the end of the day she'll be nothing but trouble," hissed Ravenwing to Gorsepelt.

"And there's trouble for all when there's trouble for one!" added Goldentail.

"While we're earning our daily prey, she's the one with her paws in the fresh-kill pile!"

"You must send her right away, or we're all going to end up as crowfood!"

"And it's us who'll have to pay…"

"At the end of the day!" sneered both assistants.

Gorsepelt stalked over to where Shortfur was cowering in the corner.

"I might have known it, was you, my loyal apprentice, I might have guessed your little secret!" the medicine cat sneered in a terrified Shortfur's face.

"Ah, yes, the virtuous Shortfur," he continued, "who always obeys the Warrior Code! You'd be the cause, I had no doubt, of any trouble here about! You play the dutiful apprentice in the light, but you're running around in the night!"

"She's been laughing at you while she's having her kit!" jeered Ravenwing.

"She'll be nothing but trouble again and again!" mewed Goldentail.

"You must sack her today…"

"Sack that cat today!"

"Run, my Shorfur," Gorsepelt whispered in his former apprentice's ear, "on your way."

Gorsepelt shoved a devastated Shortfur out of the medicine cat's den while Ravenwing and Goldentail gave each other satisfied smirks.

Dejected, Shortfur scrambled out the gorse tunnel and curled up under a tree.

_StarClan knows how I'm going to feed my kit now…_ she thought.

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**Author Note: Whew! That was a lot! A lot of this stuff was hard to Warriorize, especially letter sending. Chapter four coming soon! Also hopefully a cover picture.**


	4. I Dreamed a Dream

**Chapter 4: I Dreamed a Dream **

**Author Note: Yay! It's I Dreamed a Dream, everyone's favorite! (except for **_**you**_**, team Eponine. But we'll get to that.) **

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Shortfur sat heartbroken under the shade of a large tree. She struggled to shut out what had happened, and tried to console herself by pretending that everything was alright, that she still was a medicine cat, and that her mate and kit were sitting beside her.

"There was a time when cats were kind," she whispered, "when their voices were soft, and their words inviting. There was a time when love was blind, and the world was a song… and the song was exciting… there was a time…"

Shortfur trembled. "Then it all went wrong…"

"I dreamed a dream in time gone by…" she mewed softly. "When hope was high, and life worth living. I dreamed that love would never die, I dreamed that StarClan would be forgiving."

"Then I was young, and unafraid," the desolate she-cat murmured. "And dreams were made, and used, and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid, no song unsung, no prey untasted."

Suddenly, Ravenwing, Goldentail, and Gorsepelt's scorning faces flashed through Shortfur's mind. "But the tigers come at night… with their voices soft as thunder… as they tear your hope apart, as they turn your dream… to shame…"

Shortfur buried her face in her paws, trying not to make herself even more miserable with the memory of her mate. "He spent a greenleaf by my side," she choked, "he filled my days with endless wonder. He took my innocence in his stride, but he was gone when leaf-fall came!"

"And still I dream he'll come to me!" Shortfur cried desperately. "That we will live the years together! But there are dreams that cannot be, and there are leaf-bares we cannot weather!"

The she-cat took a quivering breath as she shook uncontrollably.

"I had a dream my life would be… so different from this nightmare I'm living! So different now, from what it seemed…"

Shortfur took a long sigh as she gazed up at Silverpelt above her.

"Now life… has killed the dream… I dreamed…"

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**Author Note: Well, of course it's short. It's a **_**soliloquy.**_** Bye now. **


	5. Lovely She-Cat

**Author Note: This one was really hard to write b/c certain things in these songs can't be Warriorized. Hope it's not too weird. **

**Chapter 5: Lovely She-Cat/Shortfur's Arrest **

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Shortfur gloomily drifted through the forest when she came upon a band of rogues hunting. Unfortunately for Shortfur, they noticed her.

One of them, a tall brown tom, sniffed. "I smell a she-cat, smell 'er in the air, think she's hiding somewhere in the bushes over there."

"Lovely she-cat, smell her through the breeze," mewed a silver tabby. "Seven moons without my mate makes me hungry for some company!"

Shortfur froze.

Two other she-cats, one a pale ginger and the other a golden brown tabby, pulled her out of the bushes.

"Lovely she-cats, waiting a mate, waiting for the toms who only come at night!" the yowled.

"Lovely she-cats, ready for the call, standing up or lying down or any way at all! Lovely she-cats waiting for a tom!"

The pale ginger she-cat eased up to Shortfur.

"What pretty fur! What a pretty pelt you've got there," she mewed. Shortfur's face twisted uncomfortably.

"What luck you got, it's worth a lot, my dear," the ginger whispered, clawing at Shortfur's pelt.

"Don't touch me!" yowled the former medicine cat. "Leave me alone!"

"Let's make a deal…" the other she-cat murmured. "I'll give you… all of three mice. Just think of that!" The ginger poked at Shortfur's ribs with her paw.

"It…it p-pays a d-debt…" stuttered Shortfur.

"Just think of that!"

"What can I do, it pays a debt! Three mice may save my poor Larkkit!" wailed Shortfur.

The ginger she-cat immediately began clawing off tufts of Shorfur's fur as the gray cat howled in pain.

"Perfect…" the other she-cat hissed. "This will make fine bedding for us."

Shortfur yowled in horror, even as the ginger rogue tossed three mice at her paws.

"By StarClan, I'm weary, sick enough to drop!" mewed the golden brown tabby. "Belly burns like fire, will the bleeding ever stop?"

"Cheer up, dearie, show a happy face," the tall brown tom told her. "Plenty more like you here if you can't keep up the pace!"

"Only joking, dearie knows her place," meowed the she-cat.

The brown tom's eyes flicked to Shortfur. "Give me the dirt, who's that cat over there?" he asked his tabby companion.

"A bit of nerve, she's the one lost her fur, " replied the she-cat.

"She's got a kit, sends her all that she can," mewed the ginger she-cat.

"I might have known there is always some tom!" chuckled the brown cat.

He padded closer to Shortfur, who narrowed her eyes.

"Lovely she-cat, come along and join us, lovely she-cat…"

Shortfur bared her teeth and hissed fiercely at the cats crowding around her.

"Come on, dearie, why all the fuss?" the golden brown tabby mewed softly. "You're no grander than the rest of us."

"Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap," meowed the silver tabby tom. "Join us, rogue life isn't too terrible." Shortfur looked up nervously and got to her paws.

"That's right, dearie, let us have the lot…"

"That's right, dearie, show us what you've got!"

"Old cats young cats, take 'em as they come!" yowled the silver tabby. "Half-clans and kittypets and every kind of scum!"

"Lovely she-cats coming for the thrill," meowed the golden brown she-cat. "got a lot of callers but they never stay for long!"

Shortfur sighed. "Come on, show me where to go. Don't it make a change to have a cat who can't refuse?" The brown tom harrumphed and motioned forward.

"Easy pickings lying on the ground," the gray she-cat whispered, "just as well they never see the hate that's in my head. Don't they know they're taking in one already dead?"

. . .

The rogues huddled nervously, surrounded by a Clan patrol. It had been three sunrises since Shortfur joined the rogues, but she sill felt uneasy with them.

"Here's something new, think I'll give it a try…" hissed a white Clan cat, sidling up to Shortfur. "Come closer you! I like to see what I try!"

"I don't want you!" yowled the once-beautiful gray she-cat as the warrior inched closer. "No, no, please let me go!"

"Is this a trick?" growled the white warrior.

"No, not at all…"

"You've got some nerve, you little she-cat, you've got some sass," snarled the warrior, clawing at Shortfur.

"I'll kill you, you lump of fox dung!" yowled the she-cat, scratching at the warrior with claws unsheathed. She felt blood on her paws and looked up to see the warrior's white fur stained by a big red welt.

"By StarClan…" seethed the warrior. "You'll pay for what you've done! I'll make you bleed, you see! I guarantee, I'll make you suffer for this disturbance of peace and property!" Shortfur froze, instantly regretting attacking the warrior.

"I beg you, don't report me!" she pleaded. "I'll do whatever you may want!"

"Make your excuse to the deputy," growled the white cat.

"Tell me quickly what's the story," meowed Stoneheart, striding past the warrior. "Who saw what and why and where? Let them give a full description, let them answer to Stoneheart! In this nest of rogues and loners let one speak who saw it all. Who laid claws on Snowstrike? What's the substance of this brawl?"

"Stoneheart, would you believe it?" snarled Snowstrike. "We were crossing from Sunningrocks, when this rogue here attacked me, you can see she left her mark!"

"She will answer for her actions when you make a full report! You may rest assured, Snowstrike, that she will answer to Kestrelstar."

"There's a kit who sorely needs me!" yowled Shortfur desperately. "Please, Stoneheart, she's five moons old! StarClan, is there no mercy? If you take me she'll surely die!" Stoneheart harrumphed and narrowed his eyes.

"I have heard such protestations every day for twenty moons!" he growled. "Let's have no more explanations, save your breath, save your grief. Honest work, just reward, that's the way to please StarClan."

Suddenly, a lean, muscular tabby tom emerged from behind the deputy.

"A moment of your time Stoneheart," he meowed, "I do believe her tale."

"B-but Silverclaw!" stuttered the gray tabby tom.

"You've done her duty, let her be. She needs a medicine cat, not a punishment!"

"B-but Silverclaw…"

Shortfur trembled in disbelief. "Can this be?" she whispered.

Silverclaw padded towards Shortfur. "Where will she end," he mewed, "this cat without a friend?"

The brown tabby warrior glanced briefly at Shortfur and almost gasped. "I've seen your face before…Please show me some way to help you," he meowed. "How have you come to grief in such a place as this?"

Shortfur turned away, humiliated. "Silverclaw, don't mock me now, it's hard enough I've lost my pride. You let Gorsepelt send me away!"

Silverclaw's eyes widened.

"Yes, you were there, and turned aside," snapped Shortfur. "I never did no wrong. My kit is close to dying! If there's a StarClan above, they'd let _me_ die instead."

"Is it true, what I have done to an innocent soul?" mewed an astonished Silverclaw. "Had I only known then…"

The tabby warrior licked Shortfur's cheek. "In StarClan's name my task has just begun. I will see it done!"

"But Silverclaw…" meowed Stoneheart.

"I will see it done!"

"But Silverclaw…"

"I _will_ see it done!"

Suddenly, an anguished shriek pierced the moment. All cats looked toward the direction of the sound.

"Look out!" wailed a far-off voice.

An ear-splitting crack came from just outside the ThunderClan camp, followed by a huge thump that shook the entire forest.

A black-furred apprentice bolted towards the patrol. Breathless, he managed to squeak out five words.

"A tree's fallen on Brackenpelt!"

* * *

**Author Note: Ha ha ha! Cliffhanger! Well, if you've seen the musical or movie you probably know exactly what happens next, which doesn't make it much of a cliffhanger. Next time I write a cliffhanger it's not going to be in a fanfic. **


	6. Who Am I?

**Author Note: Hiya. Here's Chapter 6. **

**Chapter 6: The Fallen Tree/Who Am I? **

* * *

The patrol followed the apprentice to a group of warriors surrounding a small area just outside the ThunderClan camp. When they saw Silverclaw and Stoneheart coming, the crowd parted to reveal a massive tree crushing a wailing dark brown tabby tom.

"Look at that, look at that!" yowled Snowstrike. "It's Brackenpelt!"

"Don't approach, don't go near," warned a gray tom, "at the cost of your life!"

"He is caught under the tree!" gasped a tortoiseshell she-cat.

"Oh, the pitiful cat…" moaned a brown tabby warrior.

"Stay away, turn away," the gray warrior told the tabby.

"There is nothing to do!"

"There is nothing to do…"

Suddenly, Silverclaw rushed past the cats to Brackenpelt. He turned around and swept the small crowd with a questioning gaze.

"Is there anyone here who will rescue the cat?" he yowled. "Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the tree?"

"Don't go near him, Silverclaw!" warned the gray tom.

"The load is much too heavy!" yowled the ginger. "The old cat's a goner for sure!"

"It'll kill you as well!" meowed the tabby.

Silverclaw huffed and crawled under the tree. With all of his strength he pushed and pushed, but he staggered and the tabby warrior fell to the ground. A tabby she-cat rushed to his side, followed by the gray tom. All three managed to lift the tree long enough for Brackenpelt to wriggle out.

"Silveclaw…" panted Brackenpelt gratefully. "I have no words! You must have been sent to me by StarClan!" At that moment, Stoneheart made his way through the crowd towards Silverclaw.

Seeing Silverclaw moving the tree nudged an unpleasant memory in his mind… a memory that sent a chill from the top of his ears to the tip of his tail. Stoneheart pushed it aside. It couldn't be.

"Can this be true?" the deputy asked Silverclaw. "I don't believe what I see. A cat your age, to be as strong as you are. You make me think of a cat from seasons ago. A cat…who broke his parole. He disappeared."

Stoneheart studied Silverclaw's face intently. Silverclaw returned the look with a confused expression. "Forgive me, I would not dare…" mewed the deputy.

"Say what you must!" replied Silverclaw. "Don't leave it there."

"I…" stammered Stoneheart. "I have only known one other who could do what you have done. He's a convict from the work gang, he's been ten moons on the run. But he couldn't run forever, we have found his hideaway. And he's just been re-captured. We'll bring him to Kestrelstar today." Silverclaw's eyes widened with interest.

"Well of course he now denies it!" meowed the deputy. "You'd expect that of a con. But he couldn't run forever, no, not even _Thrushclaw!_"

Silverclaw's fur bristled at the mention of this name.

"You say this cat denies it all and gives no sign of understanding or regret?" The brown tabby asked Stoneheart. "You say this cat is going to trial, and that he's sure to be returned to serve his sentence?"

The deputy nodded proudly.

Silverclaw took a deep breath. "Come to that…can you be sure that I am not the rogue?"

Stoneheart gave Silverclaw a reassuring look. "I have known the thief for ages, tracked him down through thick and thin! He will bend, he will break. This time there will be no mistake!"

By now, most of the cats were making their way back to the camp. Silverclaw ordered a warrior to take Shortfur to the medicine cat. Stoneheart rushed back to attend the trial in Kestrelstar's den, leaving Silverclaw alone with his thoughts.

"He…he thinks that cat is me… he knew him at a glance!" mewed the warrior worriedly. "That stranger he has found…This cat could be my chance!"

Silverclaw's tail thrashed from side to side. "Why should I save his pelt? Why should I right his wrong, when I have come so far, and struggled for so long?"

The tabby sighed. "If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent, I am shamed!" He paced around a tree. "I am a senior warrior in ThunderClan, they all look to me! Can I abandon them, will they be strong if I am not free?"

Silverclaw took another deep breath. "If I speak, I am condemned. If I stay silent, I am shamed."

Silverclaw let his thoughts take their time. This was really a lose-lose situation for him. On one paw, declare who he really was and face another lifetime of grueling work. On the other paw, hide his identity and break the promise he had made so long ago…

Suddenly, Silverclaw's fur bristled. The promise! How could he forget?

"Who am I?" he meowed aloud. "Can I condemn this cat to slavery? Pretend I do not feel his agony? This innocent who bears my face shall go to judgment in my place!"

"Who am I?" Silverclaw yowled again. "Can I conceal myself forevermore? Pretend I'm not the cat I was before? Must my name before I die be no more than an alibi? Must I lie? How can I ever face my fellow warriors? How can I ever face myself again? I vowed I'd be an honest cat, I made that bargain long ago…"

Silverclaw looked toward the sky, remembering the silver cat from his past. "He gave me hope when hope was gone! He gave me strength to journey on!"

"Who am I?" he asked himself. "Who am I?"

"I'm _Thrushclaw_!"

Thrushclaw bolted through the gorse tunnel and into Kestrelstar's den. Three cats were crouching inside, Kestrelstar, Stoneheart, and a mangy brown tabby.

"And so Stoneheart, you see it's true!" cried Thrushclaw. "This cat bears no more guilt than you… who am I? _Who am I?_"

"_24601!"_ yowled the former prisoner.

Stoneheart padded over to the tabby warrior. "Silverclaw," he mewed. "You're not well. You should see Gorsepelt."

Silverclaw flicked his tail angrily. "You'll find me there," he hissed, before bounding out of the den.

* * *

**Author Note: One of the moments I love in the musical is when Javert goes, "No, not even Jean Valjeaaaaan…" so I had fun writing that bit. See you later! **


	7. Come to Me

**Author Note: Mkay, to get right to the point, I used the lesser known title of this song as the chapter title because it was less of a spoiler. I know everyone probably already knows exactly what's going to happen in this chapter, but I want to be on the safe side. Well then, without further ado…**

**Chapter 7: Come to Me/The Confrontation **

* * *

Shortfur lay miserably in the medicine cat's den, ill and delirious.

"Larkkit, it's turned so cold," the she-cat mewed, envisioning her kit standing beside her. "Larkkit, it's past sunset. You've played the day away, and soon it will be night…" Shortfur coughed violently.

Goldentail quietly padded over to Shortfur and gave her a few poppy seeds to chew on. The she-cat was almost unrecognizable with her ragged fur and rogue scent, so Ravenwing and Goldentail didn't bother harassing Shortfur.

"Come to me, Larkkit, the day is fading," rasped the pale gray she-cat. "Don't you see the evening star appearing? Come to me, and rest against my shoulder. How fast the days fly away and every day is colder!" Goldentail nudged Shortfur, prodding her to lick up the poppy seeds.

"Hurry near, another day is dying! Don't you hear, the leaf-bare wind is crying. There's a darkness that comes without a warning. But I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning!"

Suddenly, Silverclaw hurried in. He licked Shortfur's ear and asked how she was feeling. Before Shortfur could reply, Gorsepelt appeared out of the shadows.

"It's greencough," he whispered. Shortfur sneezed.

"Oh, Shortfur," mewed Silverclaw softly. "Our time is running out! But Shortfur, I swear this on my life."

"Look, Silverclaw, where all the kits play…" murmured Shortfur drowsily.

Silverclaw stroked Shortfur's back with his tail. "Be at peace. Be at peace evermore…"

The she-cat's ears suddenly perked. "My Larkkit!"

"…shall live in my protection," promised Silverclaw.

"Take her now," meowed Shortfur.

"Your kit will want for nothing!"

"My good warrior, you must have been sent to me by StarClan!"

"None shall ever harm Larkkit as long as I am living."

Shortfur coughed. "Please come closer… the night grows ever colder."

"And I shall keep you warm."

"Take my kit…I give her to your keeping."

"Take shelter from the storm…"

Shortfur yawned as Silverclaw licked her forehead. "For StarClan's sake, please stay till I am sleeping…and tell Larkkit I love her and I'll see her when I wake…" She gave a contented purr as she closed her eyes.

Shortfur sighed, and did not move again.

Silverclaw pressed his muzzle in her fur and padded unhappily out of the medicine cat's den. He decided to fetch Larkkit and bring her to the ThunderClan camp, wherever she was.

No sooner had tabby warrior made it out of the gorse tunnel when Stoneheart leaped out of nowhere and pinned him down.

"Thrushclaw, at last," he snarled, "we see each other plain. 'Silverclaw,' you bear a different face!"

"Before you say another word, Stoneheart," panted Thrushclaw. "Before you take me as a slave again! Listen to me, there is something I must do. A she-cat leaves behind a suffering kit! There is none but me who can intercede. In StarClan's name, three days are all I need! When I return, I pledge my word, when I return…"

"You must think me mad!" growled the gray tabby deputy. "I've hunted you for seasons now! A cat like you can never change! A cat such as you…"

Thrushclaw leapt up suddenly and brought his paws down on Stoneheart's head.

"Believe of me, what you will!" he yowled. "There is a duty I'm sworn to do!"

Stoneheart slashed his claws at Thrushclaw's face, missing by a whisker. "Cats like me can never change, cats like you can never change!"

"You know nothing of my life," seethed Thrushclaw, scratching at his deputy's legs. "All I did was steal a mouse-"

"No! 24601…"

"You know nothing of the world!" continued Thrushclaw. "You would sooner see me dead!"

"My duty's to the Clan! You have no rights! Come with me, 24601."

"But not before I see this justice done…"

"Thrushclaw is nothing now! Dare you talk to me of crime! And the price you have to pay!"

"I am warning you Stoneheart!" growled Thrushclaw as he attempted to pin the gray tabby down. "I'm a stronger cat by far! There is power in me yet!"

"Every cat is born in sin," sneered Stoneheart. "Every cat must choose his way."

"I am warning you Stoneheart," Thrushclaw repeated. "There is nothing I won't dare! If I have to kill you here I'll do what must be done!" The brown tabby reached for Stoneheart's long tail.

"You know nothing of Stoneheart," yowled the deputy, giving the convict a vicious scratch. "I was born half rogue! I was born with scum like you! I'm a lump of crowfood too…"

Thrushclaw suddenly pinned Stoneheart down by the shoulders. The former prisoner looked to Silverpelt.

"And this I swear to you tonight…" he mewed.

"There is no place for you to hide!" choked Stoneheart.

"Your kit will live within my care," continued Thrushclaw, "and I will raise her to the light."

"Wherever you may hide away…"

"I swear to you…" meowed both cats, "I will be there."

All of a sudden, Stoneheart raked at Thrushclaw's belly. Thrushclaw jumped up in pain, giving Stoneheart the opportunity to wriggle loose. The deputy bit his convict's leg, and Thrushclaw yowled in pain. The brown tabby sliced at Stoneheart's nose, and the warrior let go of his prisoner's leg.

Thrushclaw bashed Stoneheart's chin forcefully from underneath, sending the deputy flying back against a tree. Seeing that Stoneheart was knocked out, Silverclaw made his escape and dashed away through the forest in search of his new daughter.

* * *

**Author Note: Yay! The Confrontation is one of my most favoritest songs in the musical. Stay tuned for Chapter 8!  
**


	8. Master of the Barn

**Author Note: Hi everybody! I bet this is probably the longest chapter so far. Here we go...**

**Chapter 8: Forest in the Clouds/Master of the Barn**

* * *

Larkkit sighed and sat down in the corner of the abandoned barn. She had hardly finished all of her chores but the little she-kit was thoroughly exhausted from cleaning the barn for her foster father's customers.

"There is a forest in the clouds…" whispered Larkkit, fantasizing the wonderland that often appeared in her dreams. "I like to go there in my sleep. Aren't any floors for me to clean…not in my forest in the clouds."

"There is a pile that's full with prey," continued the cream furred she-kit, thinking about her growling stomach. "There are a hundred other kits. Nobody yowls or talks to loud, not in my forest in the clouds."

Larkkit had been told that she was brought to the barn when she was no more than a moon old, because her mother couldn't take care of her. She didn't know her mother at all but Larkkit decided she would much rather be with her mother than the two cats who "took care of her" but always made her do chores.

"There is a she-cat shining white…" sang Larkkit, remembering the dream she'd had the past night. "…licks me a sings a lullaby. She's nice to see and she's soft to touch. She says, 'Larkkit, I love you very much…'

I know a place where no cat's lost. I know a place where no cat's sad. Sadness at all is not allowed…not in my forest in the clouds."

Suddenly, Larkkit heard her foster mother's familiar gait from the other side of the wall.

"Oh help!" she cried. "I think I hear her now! I'm nowhere near finished cleaning and picking up crowfood from the floor."

"Oh, it's her!" gasped Larkkit as a heavyset, longhaired, calico she-cat tramped through the barn doors. "It's Applefoot!"

"Now look who's here!" yowled Applefoot. "The little Larkkit herself! Pretending once again she's been so awfully good!" The tiny she-kit cowered farther into the shadows. "Better not let me catch you slacking! Better not catch my eye! Three rotten mice your mother sends me! What is that lullaby?"

Applefoot smacked Larkkit's delicate cream fur with her tail. "Now hurry along," mewed the she-cat viciously, "my little Larkkit, and go and fetch some fresh-kill from the woods."

"We should have never taken you in in the first place," spat Applefoot. "How stupid the things that we do! Like mother, like daughter, the scum of the forest!" Larkkit lowered her head and padded out of the barn quietly.

She was almost knocked over by a tiny blue-gray kit, who dashed into the doors right as Larkkit was coming out.

"Rainkit come, my dear!" meowed Applefoot affectionately. "Rainkit, let me see you." Larkkit backed up against the barn door to listen.

Applefoot stroked her daughter's shiny blue-gray fur with the very tail she brought down on Larkkit seconds ago. "Your fur is so neatly groomed today!" the calico she-cat mewed sweetly to Rainkit. "There's some she-kits who know how to behave and how to act. Thank StarClan for that!"

Just then, Rainkit noticed a cat's whiskers poking around the corner of the doorway. "Mother," she hissed. "Larkkit's still there!" Larkkit gulped.

"Still there, Larkkit?" yowled Applefoot. "Whining will do you no good. I told you fetch some fresh-kill from the woods!"

"Please do not send me out alone!" wailed Larkkit, feeling smaller than ever. "Not in the darkness on my own…"

"Enough of that!" roared Applefoot. "Or I'll forget to be nice! You heard me ask for something, and I never ask twice!" Rainkit hurried over to Larkkit and gave her a firm push in the direction of the forest and stuck her tongue out at her miserable foster sister.

Larkkit padded towards the forest, sighing. She passed a tall silver tabby tom who strode into the barn and licked the top of Rainkit's head. He nodded at Applefoot and began straightening the haystacks out.

The barn was about to open.

. . .

"Come on, you old pest!" a pale ginger tom yowled across the barn. "Give us your best!" The tall tabby hurried over.

"Here, try this," he mewed, offering a vole to the ginger. "Guaranteed to hit the spot, or I'm not Sootclaw!"

"Give us some too!" meowed a she-cat from the other side of the barn. "Sootclaw, over here!"

"Right away, you scum!" answered Sootclaw. He promptly grabbed a squirrel from his fresh-kill pile and tossed it to the she-cat, hitting her companion in the eye.

"Great StarClan, this place is a mess," mewed the ginger tom to his brown-furred mate.

"So you tell me every day," she retorted.

"The host, Sootclaw, they say he used to be part of ThunderClan!" mewed the ginger tom, relaying a bit a gossip he'd heard. "He was there, so they say, at that battle at Snakerocks! He arrived, it's true, when the battle was all through. But he knew just what to do! He crawled through the rocks, so I've heard it said, and picked out adders killed by fighting cats!"

The she-cat snorted. "I'll believe that when hedgehogs fly."

The ginger turned his head away from his mate to see Sootclaw climbing up on top a haystack to address his barn regulars.

"My band of rogues, my den of nestles cats!" yowled the silver tabby. "My dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts! My sons of rogues spend their lives in my barn."

"Homing pigeons homing in," Sootclaw metaphored, "they fly through my doors…and their fresh-kill's good as yours!"

"Welcome, my friend!" Sootclaw hopped down from the haystack to welcome a white tom wandering through the doors. "Sit yourself down, and meet the only barn keeper in the forest."

"Look at the rest," continued the silver tabby tom, pointing with his tail towards his customers. "All of 'em crooks, swindling each other and messing around! Seldom do you see honest cats like me! A cat of good intent who's content to be…"

Sootclaw climbed back on top of the haystack.

"…Master of the barn, doling out the charm, ready with a kind word and an open paw! Tells a saucy tale, makes a little stir, customers appreciate a social cat! Glad to do a friend a favor, doesn't cost me to be nice. But nothing gets you nothing, everything has got a little price!"

The white tom cowered and almost backed out of the barn when Sootclaw appeared behind him to block his way.

"Master of the barn, keeper of the nest, ready to relieve them of a mouse or two!" Sootclaw snickered to himself. "Filling up the fresh-kill pile, taking one or two, picking up their prey when they can't see straight! Every cat's good companion! Every cat needs a friend. I do whatever pleases me…Great StarClan! Won't I bleed 'em in the end!"

Sootclaw signaled to his customers and the barn exploded with raucous chanting, singing, and yowling.

"Master of the barn!" roared the customers. "Quick to catch your eye! Never wants a passer by to pass him by! Servant to the poor, ally to the great, comforter, philosopher, and lifelong mate! Every cat's good companion, every cat's chaperone!"

"But put away your fresh-kill," whispered Sootclaw to himself. "Great StarClan, won't I skin them to the bone!"

"Charge 'em for the rats, extra for the lice!" mewed Sootclaw in the white tom's torn ear. "Two mice for sleeping in the haystacks!" the silver tom poked a she-cat whose nose was sticking out of the straw. "Here a little slice, there a little cut. Three voles for sleeping with the window shut! When it comes to fixing prices, there's a lot of tricks I know!"

Sootclaw examined the fresh-kill pile and picked out a sparrow. "All the bits and pieces, great StarClan, it's amazing how it grows!"

"Master of the barn!" yowled all of the barn regulars in harmony. "Quick to catch your eye! Never wants a passer by to pass him by! Servant to the poor, ally to the great, comforter, philosopher, and lifelong mate! Every cat's good companion, gives 'em everything he's got!"

"Dirty bunch of mouse-brains," chuckled their host. "Great StarClan, what a sorry little lot!"

Meanwhile, in the far corner, a small crowd was gathering around Applefoot.

"I use to dream that I would meet a handsome tom," she meowed. "Great StarClan, have you seen what's happened since…" The cats snickered in response.

"Master of the barn, isn't worth my spit! Comforter, philosopher, and lifelong fox-dung! Cunning little dear, regular mouse-brain, thinks he's quite a lover but there's not much there! What a cruel trick of nature, landing me with such a louse. StarClan knows how I've lasted, living with this furball in the house!" The cats listening hooted with laughter.

"Master of the barn!" yowled Sootclaw's customers.

"Master and a half," jeered Applefoot.

"Comforter, philosopher…"

"Don't make me laugh!"

"Servant to the poor, ally to the great!"

"Hypocrite and mouse-brain and fox-hearted mate!"

"Every cat praise the landlord, every cat praise his mate!"

"Every cat raise their tail!" crowed Sootclaw.

"Raise to the master's insanity!" yowled Applefoot.

"Every cat raise their tail to the master of the barn!" roared all of the cats.

All of the cats raised their tails as Sootclaw climbed up on top of a groups of cats' backs.

Suddenly one cat slipped and all of the cats tumbled down yowling.

* * *

**Author Note: I thought the end of Castle in a Cloud was weird because Madame T. says "...I never ask twice" after asking Cosette to fetch water from the woods twice. I included that anyway. See ya! **


	9. The Bargain

**Author Note: Why hello everyone. Just one more chapter until we get to the exciting part!**

**Chapter 9: The Bargain/Waltz of Treachery**

* * *

Larkkit's tiny paw swiped the wing of a pigeon, barely catching it as prey escaped predator. The little kit sighed and sat down against a tree.

Suddenly, Larkkit shrieked as a huge shadow loomed over her. The she-kit scampered around the tree, trembling.

"Hush, now, don't be afraid of me," a voice said. "Don't wail, show me where you live. Tell me, little kit, what is your name?"

Larkkit poked her head cautiously around the tree. "I-I'm c-called…Larkkit."

. . .

Larkkit scampered behind the large brown tabby tom, struggling to keep up with his long strides. She tripped over a twig, and the tiny she-kit was almost left behind when the tabby rushed back and carried Larkkit by the scruff of her neck.

At last they reached the barn. Sootclaw and Applefoot were still tidying up from last night's rowdy gathering.

The brown tabby tom padded up to the two cats and plopped Larkkit down on the dusty floor. "My name is Silverclaw," the warrior mewed with a polite nod. Sootclaw and Applefoot narrowed their eyes.

"What business do you have here?" Sootclaw snapped curtly, with a sharp glance at Larkkit.

"I found her wandering in the woods," meowed Silverclaw, motioning with his tail towards the terrified she-kit. "This little kit, I found her trembling in the shadows! I am here to help Larkkit, and I will settle any debt you may think proper! I will pay what I must pay to take Larkkit away."

Silverclaw looked Sootclaw and Applefoot right in the eye. "There is a duty I must heed," he continued. "There is a promise I have made! For I was blind to one in need. I did not see what stood before me."

The large tabby turned to face Larkkit. "Your mother hunts with StarClan now," he whispered. Larkkit gasped and buried her muzzle sorrowfully in Silverclaw's dark fur. "Now her suffering is over."

Silverclaw faced the barn keepers. "And I speak here with her voice, and I stand here in her place! And from this day and evermore…"

"Why don't you sit down here for a while?" offered Applefoot.

"…Larkkit shall live in my protection," continued Silverclaw.

"You are very welcome here!" mewed Sootclaw, gesturing with his tail towards his barn.

"I will not forsake my vow…"

"Take a vole!"

"Have a mouse!"

"…Larkkit shall have a father now!"

Sootclaw flashed a quick glance at his mate and then cut his eyes at Silverclaw.

"What to do, what to say?" meowed the silver tabby with false surprise. "Shall you carry our treasure away? What beautiful fur! What pretty eyes! Beyond everything is our little kit! How can we speak of debt? Let's not haggle for darling Darkkit!"

"Larkkit!" hissed Applefoot.

"Larkkit…"

Silverclaw sighed impatiently.

Sootclaw widened his eyes and looked towards the sky. "Dear Shortfur! Gone to rest! Have we done for her kit what is best?"

"Shared our prey. Shared each bone," mewed Applefoot, with Sootclaw nodding rapidly beside her.

"Treated her like she's one of our own!" continued Sootclaw. The tabby put on his best sympathetic face and looked at Silverclaw. "Like our own, my friend."

"Your feelings do you credit," mewed Silverclaw, his face masking all emotion. "And I will ease the parting blow. Let us not talk of bargains or bones or greed. Now may I say we are agreed?"

"That would quite fit the bill," meowed Applefoot, attempting to stall Silverclaw for as long as possible. "If…if she hadn't so often been…ill! Little dear, cost us dear. Medicines are hard to find!"

"Not that we begrudged a thing!" Sootclaw quickly added. "It's no more than we former warriors must do…"

"One thing more!" pointed out Applefoot. "One small doubt. There are treacherous cats about. No offense, please reflect! Your intentions may not be correct!"

"No more words," mewed Silverclaw in as grave a tone as possible. "Here's your price." The tabby warrior looked behind him, where Larkkit was scurrying towards him with a few birds in her mouth, Silverclaw's catch from earlier in the day. He took the prey, thanked his little she-kit, and deposited the birds in front of an astonished Sootclaw and Applefoot.

"Four sparrows for your sacrifice," meowed Silverclaw.

"Come, Larkkit," he whispered. "Say goodbye. Let us seek out some friendlier sky."

Silverclaw looked at his daughter's former caretakers with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Thank you both for Larkkit. It won't take you too long to forget…"

Larkkit clung to her father as they made their way together through the forest.

"Come, Larkkit, come my dear," Silverclaw mewed softly. "From now on I will always be here. Where I go, you will be."

"Will there be a wonderful forest to see?" asked Larkkit sweetly.

The brown tabby chuckled. "Yes, Larkkit. Yes, it's true. There's forest just waiting for you…"

Silverclaw licked the top of Larkkit's head as father and daughter walked together at last.

* * *

**Author Note: YAAAAY! Tres ah-dor-ah-bleh! Now it's almost time for the angsty revolutionary part of the story!**


	10. Look Down

**Author Note: Now it's time for everyone's favorite characters! **

**Chapter 10: Look Down**

* * *

Nine Moons Later…

ThunderClan was in complete chaos. Kestrelstar was frail and only left his den to attend gatherings, forcing Stoneheart to try as hard as he could to keep his Clan together. Cats came and went as they pleased, and many warriors were disobedient and weak fighters.

Inevitably, the whole Clan was itching for change.

. . .

"Look down, and see the crowfood at your feet! Look down, and show some mercy if you can!"

Stoneheart muttered a quick apology to the RiverClan warrior beside him on the Highrock. The brown tom sniffed and bounded off swiftly, not even bothering to finish his negotiation.

Stoneheart sighed while the warriors continued yowling.

"Look down and see the crowfood of the forest! Look down, look down, upon your fellow cat."

Just as the RiverClan warrior was about to slink out the gorse tunnel, a tiny black-and-white apprentice cornered him.

"How do you do?" he meowed. "My name's Cloverpaw! This is my Clan. Here's my patch. Not much to look at, nothing posh, nothing that _you'd_ call up to scratch!"

The RiverClan cat growled impatiently but Cloverpaw went on anyway.

"This is my spot, my high society, here in the woods of ThunderClan. We live on scraps of Kestrelstar, tough on the teeth, but who cares?" Cloverpaw turned his Clanmates.

"If you're poor," he yowled, "if you're free, follow me, _follow me!_"

"Look down, and show some mercy if you can!" chanted the ThunderClan warriors. "Look down, look down, upon your fellow cat."

"See our kits fed!" yowled a ginger queen. "Help us in our shame! Anything for a mouse in StarClan's name!"

"When's it gonna end?" cried an underweight ginger tabby. "When we gonna live?"

"Something's gotta happen now or something's gotta give," answered a scrawny russet furred tom beside him.

"It'll come, it'll come, it'll come…" they both muttered.

"Where is the leader of the Clan?" roared a pale ginger tabby to a small crowd. "Where is the furball who runs this camp?"

"Only one cat," yowled his golden brown tabby friend, "and that's Mossfur, speaks for the warriors down below!" These two cats wanted Mossfur as their leader instead of Kestrelstar.

"Mossfur is ill and fading fast!" warned the tabby. "Won't last a quarter moon, so they say!"

"With all the anger in the Clan," meowed the ginger tom, "how long before the judgment day?" His piercing green eyes burned into the cats before him. "…Before we cut the fat one down to size?"

The two toms exchanged a glance. "Before the barricades arise?" they both roared, before being driven off to a border patrol by Stoneheart.

"Watch out for that old Sootclaw!" Cloverpaw warned a warrior. "All of his gang is on the way. Once ran a barn down the Thunderpath! He's got a gang now, the fox-hearted furball!"

Just then, a slim, sleek, blue-gray she-cat slinked nonchalantly through the gorse tunnel.

"Even his daughter does her share," whispered Cloverpaw, gesturing towards the blue-gray she-cat. "That's Rainsong, she knows her way about! Barely a warrior, but hard to scare!"

A fierce cry came from the Highrock. Stoneheart was trying to call all of the warriors together for a Clan meeting.

"Do we care?" yowled the tiny black-and-white apprentice. "Not a mousetail! Long live us, long live us!"

"Look down, and show some mercy if you can," the warriors roared to Stoneheart. "Look down, look down, upon your fellow cats!"

Stoneheart sighed wearily. He needed a break.

* * *

**Author Note: Now that was short. Longer chapter later... **


	11. The Robbery

**Author Note: Hi there. Here's some Eponine angst for ya. Enjoyyyy... **

**Chapter 11: The Robbery/Stoneheart's Intervention **

* * *

Sootclaw stuck his head behind the bush.

"Every cat here, you know your place. Wolfclaw, Bramblethorn, Nightmask." The silver tabby tapped a dark tom behind him with his tail. "You, Boulderpelt, watch for Clan cats. With Rainsong, take care. No mistakes now, my dears."

"These mouse-brained warriors on our territory!" muttered Applefoot. "Here they come running once again. Rainsong would lick their paws, she never had a scrap of brain!"

Just then, a golden brown tabby tom padded up behind Rainsong. "Hey, Rainsong, what's up today?" he meowed. "I haven't seen you much about."

"Hi, Sparrowflight," Rainsong answered shyly. "Here you always catch me in."

"Mind no cat catches you out!" mewed Sparrowflight.

"What do you do with so much prey?" Rainsong asked her friend. "I could be a great hunter too! Don't judge a cat on how they look. I know a lot of things, I do!"

"Poor Rainsong, the things you know! You couldn't catch any prey with that."

Rainsong stroked Sparrowflight's fur with her long tail. "I like the way your fur shines," she mewed.

Sparrowflight laughed. "I like the way you always tease!"

"Little he knows…" whispered Rainsong. "Little he sees…"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar elderly tabby tom passed between them, followed by a cream she-cat.

"Here's that old warrior!" hissed Applefoot to the rogues. "Stay on the job and watch out for Stoneheart!"

"Stay out of this!" an embarrassed Rainsong meowed to Sparrowflight.

"But Rainsong…" mewed Sparrowflight.

"You'll be in trouble here, it's not your concern! You'll be in the clear!" The blue-gray she-cat pushed her tabby friend away, just as the old tabby and the cream she-cat passed by again.

"Hey, Rainsong, who is that cat?" asked Sparrowflight.

"Leave me alone!"

"Why is he here?" No sooner had Sparrowflight finished his sentence than Rainsong scurried away. "Hey, Rainsong!" yowled the golden brown tabby, speeding after the she-cat.

Suddenly, Sparrowflight collided with a young she-cat, sending them both flying. In a flash of cream and golden fur, both cats landed hard on the grass next to each other. The tabby jumped up to apologize.

"I didn't see you there," Sparrowflight mewed politely to the she-cat. "Forgive me." He stared at the she-cat, captivated, while she gazed right back at his warm amber eyes.

Meanwhile, the elderly tom was wandering off near the ThunderClan camp.

"Please, my friend, come this way!" a voice meowed. The brown tabby peered behind a bush. It was Sootclaw. "There's a kit that ain't eaten today!" continued the silver tabby. "Save a life. Spare a mouse. StarClan rewards all the good that you do."

The elder deposited a fresh mouse behind the bush and was about to leave when Sootclaw called him back.

"Wait a bit. Know that face. Ain't the world a remarkable place? Cats like me don't forget." The silver tabby bared his teeth.

"You're the furball who borrowed Barkkit!"

"Larkkit!" hissed Applefoot.

"Whatever…"

A shocked and confused expression crossed the brown tabby's worn face. "What is this?" he yowled. "Are you mad? No, no, no, you don't know what you do…"

"You know me, I know you," hissed Sootclaw. "I'm a con, just like you!"

"Everyone disappear!" cried Rainsong, dashing past Sootclaw and company. "Run for it! _It's Stoneheart!_"

Sudddenly, all of the cats went running in all different directions.

"Hurry, Larkheart!" yowled the elder to his daughter, who was still gazing at Sparrowflight, before escaping with her toward the ThunderClan camp.

The sound of a steady stride alerted all of the cats of Stoneheart's arrival even before they saw his pinched face.

"Another brawl in the woods," snarled the deputy, "another stink in the air. Is there a witness to this?"

Sparrowflight cautiously stepped forward and nodded respectfully.

"Then let him speak to Stoneheart!" The gray tabby faced Sparrowflight. "The woods are not safe, but let rogues beware! We'll see that justice is done!"

Stoneheart padded over to Sootclaw bush, where the rogues were huddling nervously. The deputy beckoned all of them to come out, and they obeyed, though out of fear of the formidable warrior.

"Look upon this fine collection!" Stoneheart sneered sarcastically. "Crawled from underneath a bush!" The gray tabby looked at Sparrowflight. "This swarm of worms and maggots could have picked you to the bone!"

The deputy stuck his face menacingly into Sootclaw's. "I know this cat over here. I know his name and his gang. And on your witness, Sparrowflight, we'll see him suitably paid." Stoneheart whipped around, and his face suddenly changed from fierce to confused.

"But where's the elder gone and why in StarClan's name did he run?"

At the mention that the elder tom and his daughter had left, Sparrowflight took off running in search of the she-cat.

"Could it be he's some old rogue?" muttered Stoneheart quizzically. "That the moon fills full again? Heard my name and stared running...he could be that lost rogue's kin!"

The members of Sootclaw's gang glanced at each skeptically.

"And that she-cat right beside him..." wondered the deputy. "When I turned they both had gone. Could he be the cat I've hunted? Could it be he is Thrushclaw?"

Sootclaw padded gingerly up to Stoneheart and tapped the gray tabby's shoulder with his tail.

"In the absence of a victim, my dear Stoneheart, may I go?" the rogue mewed. "And remember when you've caught him, It was me who told you so...?"

"Let that old cat keep on running!" growled Stoneheart. "I will run him off his paws."

And with a single flick of his long tail, the deputy dismissed the rogues into the deep forest.

"Every cat about his business, get this rubbish out of sight!"

* * *

**Author Note: About that other author note, I actually meant for you to enjoy the chapter, not Eponine's misery. **


	12. StarClan

**Author Note: Yay! I love "Stars." Hope you like this chapter. **

**Chapter 12: StarClan/Rainsong's Errand **

* * *

It was after dark, and the Clan was peaceful. The perfect time for a much needed break, a relaxing walk in the woods.

Unfortunately, there is no relaxing for Stoneheart, the deputy of ThunderClan.

Everywhere he looked, something somewhere reminded him of Thrushclaw, the only prisoner to have ever escaped his iron grip. The rogue was lurking somewhere near ThunderClan, the deputy knew that much, and he would stop at nothing until Thrushclaw paid for his crimes.

"There…out in the darkness…a fugitive running, fallen from virtue," whispered Stoneheart, padding outside of the Clan camp. "Fallen from grace…StarClan be my witness! I never shall yield till we come face to face…till we come face to face."

The deputy nearly tripped over a small shrub. He wasn't used to this stealthily sneaking around. Stoneheart took a deep breath. This was supposed to be a nice leisurely stroll.

"He knows his way in the dark," muttered the gray tabby, his thoughts shifting back to the old convict. "_Mine_ is the way of the warrior code. Those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward…and if you walk the Place of No Stars…" Stoneheart shivered, imagining all of the treacherous cats who inhabited the Dark Forest. "…The mist! The cold!"

"StarClan…" murmured the deputy, gazing at the stars above him. "In your multitudes… scarce to be counted! Filling the night sky with order and light. You are the sentinels…silent and sure…keeping watch in the night…keeping watch in the night." Stoneheart thought of his father, mother, mentor, mate, and kits watching over him from above. He always did what he thought was best to please them.

"You know your place in the sky…you hold your course and your aim! And each in your season returns and returns, and is always the same! And if you walk the Place of No Stars, you walk in shame…"

Stoneheart imagined Thrushclaw padding alone miserably around the Dark Forest and gave himself a satisfied smirk.

"And so it must be!" yowled the deputy, reassuring himself why he would walk the night skies after his death, and why Thrushclaw wouldn't. "And so it has been, in the meadows of paradise! Those who falter and those who fall must pay the price..."

The old rogue wouldn't walk the Dark Forest until he died, reasoned Stoneheart, which gave the deputy all the more motive to capture Thrushclaw once and for all.

"StarClan, let me find him, that I may see him safe from causing more harm!"

Stoneheart took one more deep breath. "I will never rest!" he seethed.

"Till then, this I swear, _this I swear by StarClan!"_

The gray deputy promptly turned around and stalked off towards the ThunderClan camp with his nose in the air.

Meanwhile, a faint snicker could be heard from the apprentices' den.

"That deputy thinks he's something," whispered Cloverpaw to a fellow apprentice, "but it's me who runs this camp! Trust Cloverpaw, have no fear, don't you worry, ThunderClan. You can always find me here!"

. . .

Rainsong stretched idly in the sun, enjoying a rare piece of prey and waiting for Sparrowflight to come back from the dawn patrol. She wondered about that strange elder and the pretty she-cat she had seen a day ago. Sparrowflight seemed quite taken by the young cream warrior. She and her father were, apparently, newcomers in ThunderClan. The elder had said that they had left WindClan forever or something like that.

Suddenly, Rainsong's fur bristled.

The elder had said something. Something that both made her fur stand on end and her heart break.

"_Hurry, Larkheart!" _

"Larkheart…" whispered the blue-gray she-cat. "Now I remember. Larkheart…how can it be? We were kits together. Now look what's become of me..."

Rainsong tried to connect the two images in her mind. One of the scrawny, dirty, kit, and the other of the graceful, lovely, she-cat.

And now, Larkkit, the very cat Rainsong had tormented throughout her kithood, had grown into Larkheart, beautiful, healthy, and in possession of the one thing Rainsong wanted most.

Just then, Sparrowflight popped up next to the blue-gray she-cat.

"Great StarClan! Oh, what a ruckus!" meowed Rainsong, still stuck in the past day's events.

"That she-cat, who could she be?" answered Sparrowflight.

"That Stoneheart, he'd like to seize us!" muttered the she-cat, trying to steer the conversation away from Larkheart. "But he ain't smart, not he."

Unfortunately for Rainsong, Sparrowflight saw through this. Looking his best friend right in the eye, he asked her, "Rainsong, who was that she-cat?"

"Probably some rogue's daughter," she snapped back.

"Rainsong, find her for me!"

"What will you give me?"

Sparrowflight's amber eyes showed his desperation. "Anything!"

"Got you all delighted now," mewed Rainsong, "But StarClan knows what you see in her!" Sparrowflight offered some of his catch from the patrol, even though he was supposed to bring it directly to Kestrelstar.

Rainsong turned away. "No," she mewed. "I don't want that water vole."

Sparrowflight caught up with Rainsong as she was padding away and touched his tail lightly to her cheek.

"Rainsong, please…" he pleaded, with a frantic look. "Do this for me."

The she-cat turned around to face Sparrowflight, but avoided eye contact with the tabby. "Fine," she whispered.

The golden brown tabby's distraught eyes suddenly lit up with joy. "Discover who she is," he meowed. "But careful where you go. Don't let your father know."

Sparrowflight sighed delightedly. "Rainsong…I'm lost until she's found!"

"You see, I told you so," mewed the she-cat. "There's lots of things I know."

Suddenly, Sparrowflight's ears perked. He quickly thanked Rainsong and pranced away dreamily to join the warriors calling him over.

"Rainsong…" mewed the blue-gray she-cat, "she knows her way…around."

* * *

**Author Note: I took a bit of artistic license here and made Stoneheart's character a little more complex than is revealed in the musical. I made it so that the reason he's so obsessed with StarClan and the warrior code is because his whole family is up there watching him. So he does his best to uphold the warrior code so he can earn a place in StarClan and the approval of his kin.  
On a lighter note, everybody loves Red and Black! And guess what? It's comin' up after the break! **


	13. Do You Hear the Warriors Meow?

**Author Note: Hi again! If Les Mis had a theme song, it would definitely be Do You Hear the People Sing! Here we go. **

**Chapter 13: Red and Black/Do You Hear the Warriors Meow?**

* * *

"Warriors, apprentices, everyone!"

Eight idealistic warriors, and one tagalong apprentice, were huddled together outside of the ThunderClan camp, discussing their important plan. A plan that, if they carried it out right the first time, would end their suffering, restore order in the Clan, and change life in ThunderClan as they knew it forever.

"There's a river on the run," mewed a ginger tabby tom. "Like the flowing of the tide, ThunderClan coming to our side!" The tom, Sunblaze, jostled a sleepy dark brown warrior beside him.

A pale ginger tom with brilliant green eyes leapt up on top of a boulder behind Sunblaze. He yowled for attention, and as the most senior warrior in the group, he got it.

"The time is near!" he meowed. "So near it's stirring the blood in their veins! And yet beware…don't let the pride go to your brains!" The pale ginger, Redstorm, scanned the crowd. He counted eight other cats, one less than expected.

"We need a sign," continued Redstorm. "To rally the Clan, to call them to battle, to bring them in line!"

Suddenly, a golden brown tabby scampered past Redstorm, panting, and took his place at the edge of the crowd.

"Sparrowflight," snapped the pale ginger. "You're late."

A russet furred tom beside Sparrowflight gave his friend a small nudge. "Sparrowflight, what's wrong today?" he mewed. "You look as if you've seen a ghost!"

"Why don't you say what's going on?" added the dark brown tom, Berryfur. He always liked gossip.

"A ghost you say…" murmured Sparrowflight dreamily, staring straight ahead. "A ghost maybe…she was just like a ghost to me! A heartbeat there and she was gone!"

Berryfur could barely contain his snicker. "I am agog!" he yowled. "I am aghast! Is Sparrowflight in love at last? I've never heard him 'ooh' and 'ah!'" All of the other warriors howled with laughter, while Sparrowflight buried his head in his paws with embarrassment. This didn't stop his friends from teasing and poking fun at the smitten warrior.

Redstorm silenced the rowdy toms with another attention calling yowl. "It is time for us all to decide who we are!" he hollered. "Have you asked of yourselves, what's the price you might pay? Is this simply a game for bored young warriors to play? The colors of the world are changing day by day…"

The warriors were now listening intently enough to feel Redstorm's intense passion.

"Red, the blood of angry cats!" Redstorm yowled fervently. "Black, the dark of seasons past! Red, a world about to dawn, Black, the night that ends at last!"

"Had you been there that night, you might know how it feels!" meowed Sparrowflight, flustered and hurt by his friend's apparent insensitivity. "To be struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight!"

Redstorm rolled his eyes at Sparrowflight's infatuation, as if scolding the tabby for thinking about something other than their plan.

"Had you been there tonight you might also have known," wailed the golden brown tabby, "how the world may be changed in just one burst of light! And what was right seems wrong, and what was wrong seems right…"

"Red!" yowled Berryfur, mocking Redstorm.

"I feel my soul on fire!" answered Sparrowflight frantically.

"Black!"

"My world if she's not there!"

"Red!" chorused the other warriors, joining in.

"The color of desire!"

"Black!"

"The color of despair!"

Redstorm sighed and proceeded to put an end the off-topic discussions. "Sparrowflight, you're no longer alone," he meowed, "and I do not doubt you mean well, but now there is a higher call!" The pale ginger hopped off of his boulder and glared at Sparrowflight.

"Who cares about your lonely soul?" mewed Redstorm in Sparrowflight's already saddened face. "We strive towards a larger goal! Our little lives don't count at all!"

"Red, the blood of angry cats!" yowled all of the warriors together. "Black, the dark of seasons past!" With a prompt from Sorreltongue, the russet tom, Sparrowflight reluctantly joined in.

"Red, the world about to dawn! Black, the night that ends at last!"

With this, the warriors finally began preparation for their big moment.

"Well, Sunblaze do we have all we need?" Redstorm asked the ginger tabby. "Whitefeather, Sagepelt, our time is running short!" The pale ginger turned to Berryfur, who was gobbling prey. "Berryfur, put that squirrel down! Do we have all the things we need?"

"Give me fresh-kill on my breath, and I'll breathe them all to death!" snapped the dark brown tom.

Suddenly, Cloverpaw rushed in and scurried through the crowd. "Listen!" he yowled.

"Two mice for every cat!" shouted Sorreltongue.

Cloverpaw jostled his mentor, Berryfur. "Listen to me!"

"Double that after we've won," meowed a small silver tom, Cloudheart, to Sorreltongue.

"Listen, everybody!" screamed the tiny apprentice.

"Berryfur, spare some prey?" a black tom, Eagletail, asked Berryfur.

Cloverpaw gathered up all of his courage and scrambled up on top of Redstorm's boulder. The black-and-white apprentice wailed as loud as he possibly could.

"_Mossfur is dead!_"

Every warrior within a fox-length turned around and froze in stunned speechlessness.

Redstrom was the first to break the silence. "Mossfur is dead…"

Cloverpaw, panting, nodded quietly.

"Mossfur!" continued Redstorm. "His death is the hour of fate! The warrior's cat…"

The pale ginger climbed up his boulder to face the other toms. "His death…is the sign we await!" The other warriors nodded in agreement.

"Tomorrow we will honor his name," Redstorm went on. "It's a rallying cry that will reach every ear! In the death of Mossfur we will kindle the flame."

The ginger tabby's eyes radiated from all of the excitement and eagerness of his friends.

"The time is near!" he yowled energetically. "Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer! Let us challenge Kestrelstar with no doubt in our hearts! With a jubilant shout they will come one and all…they will come when we call!"

Redstorm was so excited he didn't even scold Sparrowflight when he noticed that the golden brown tabby was sitting off to the side, not paying attention.

Redstorm bounded off towards Sparrowflight and gave him a nudge towards the other toms. Sparrowflight merely grunted and darted his eyes around nervously.

"Come on, Sparrowflight," mewed Redstorm, trying to get his friend into the spirit of things. "Do you hear the warriors meow…"

The golden brown tabby shook his head absentmindedly.

"…Meowing the meows of angry cats!" continued Redstorm energetically. "It is a music of a Clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the rhythm of the yowls, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

A dark gray tom named Sagepelt joined in to give Sparrowflight some more encouragement.

"Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me?" Sagepelt yowled to an imaginary audience. "Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?"

"Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!" added Sunblaze.

"Do you hear the warriors meow?" all of the toms chorused in unison, gathering around Sparrowflight. "Meowing the meows of angry cats! It is a music of a Clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the rhythm of the yowls, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

"Will you give all you can give so that our revolt may advance?" meowed a white and brown tom, Whitefeather. "Some will fall and some will live, will you stand up and take your chance? The souls of the martyrs will grace the meadows of StarClan!"

"Do you hear the warriors meow?" All of the warriors repeated. Even Sparrowflight joined in, much to the delight of Redstorm. "Meowing the meows of angry cats! It is a music of a Clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the rhythm of the yowls, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

Suddenly, Eagletail spotted Stoneheart through the trees. The group hurriedly disbanded and scattered through the woods.

In the confusion, no one noticed Sparrowflight as he silently slipped away with a mysterious blue-grey she-cat.

* * *

**Author Note: Hmm. Maybe I made Redstorm a little too mean. By the way, can any of you über Mizzies figure out which warrior represents which Ami de l'ABC? There are subtle hints in some of the the names for the brick readers.  
**


	14. A Heart Full of Love

**Author Note: What a cute coincidence! Valentine's day is the fourteenth, and so is this chapter. Enjoy it!**

* * *

**Chapter 14: In My Life/A Heart Full of Love**

It was past sunhigh, and as Kestrelstar's fresh-kill pile was finally tall with prey, ThunderClan enjoyed some rare and much-needed rest.

Larkheart sat in a daze off to the side, away from most of the other cats. Her encounter with the handsome golden brown tabby had put her in a blissful trance for about a day now.

"How strange…" she whispered. "This feeling that my life's begun at last. This change…" Larkheart sighed delightedly. "Can you really fall in love so fast…?"

The graceful cream she-cat shook her head bashfully. "What's the matter with you, Larkheart?" she giggled. "Have you been too much on your own? So many things unclear, so many things unknown…"

Larkheart rested her head happily on her milky-white paws. "In my life," she sighed, "there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong…in my life, there are times when I catch in the silence, the sigh of a faraway song!" The she-cat smiled dreamily.

"And it sings," she continued, "of a world that I long to see! Out of reach, just a whisper away, waiting for me!" Larkheart's thoughts fluttered about uncontrollably in her mind.

"Does he know I'm alive, do I know if he's real?" The she-cat mewed, her heart brimming with happiness after her ethereal brush with love. Larkheart's delicate voice lowered to a whisper. "Does he see what I see, does he feel what I feel?"

"In my life," the cream she-cat purred, "I'm no longer alone, now the love in my life is so near! Find me now, find me here..."

Just then, Larkheart's father emerged from the elders' den and gave his daughter an affectionate lick on the ears. She had been so absent-minded the past day, to the point that she barely noticed any cat around her. He was worried about her.

It wouldn't hurt her though, the tabby tom thought, because as newcomers in ThunderClan, many cats avoided him and his daughter like crowfood.

"Dear Larkheart, you're such a lonely cat!" meowed the she-cat's father. "How pensive, how…sad you seem to be." Larkheart looked up, giving the effect that she had just noticed that her father was right next to her.

"Believe me," continued Larkheart's father, "were it within my power, you'd always have another friend. How quiet it must be, I can see…with only me for company."

Larkheart took a deep breath, acting on her spur-of-the-moment confidence. "There's so little I know that I'm longing to know, of the kit that I was in a time long ago."

The brown tabby tom cringed. His daughter was asking The Question. _Again._

"There's so little you say of the life you have known, why you keep to yourself, why you're always alone. So dark, so dark and deep…the secrets that you keep."

Larkheart's father turned to leave, but the cream she-cat pleaded for him to come back.

"In my life," she mewed, "I have all that I want. You are loving and gentle and good." The tabby elder sighed and continued on his way.

"But father," Larkheart yowled. "My dear father! In your eyes I am still like a kit who is lost in the woods!"

"No more words," snapped the brown tabby elder, with a glare at his precious daughter. "No more words, it's a time that is dead! There are words that are better unheard, better unsaid…" Larkheart raced past her father and stood solidly in his way.

"In my life, I'm no longer a kit…" wailed the cream she-cat. "…And I yearn for the truth that you know!" The elder tried to muscle his way around his delicate daughter, but she was just as quick as she was pretty. "All those moons…" continued Larkheart. "…Moons ago."

"You will learn," growled the elder. "Truth is given by StarClan to us all in our time…in our turn." Larkheart's father stalked past his daughter and back into the elders' den as the she-cat watched sadly.

Larkheart sighed and slinked off to the place that mysterious blue-gray warrior had told the cream she-cat to meet her.

. . .

"In my life," meowed an especially exuberant Sparrowflight, "she has burst like the glory of StarClan, the light of the sun!"

The golden brown tom was bouncing along after Rainsong, who had promised to take him to the beautiful cream she-cat he had seen earlier.

"And my life," continued the tabby, "seems to stop as if something is over and something has scarcely begun!" Sparrowflight nudged the she-cat affectionately.

"Rainsong," he mewed, "you're the friend who has brought me here, thanks to you, I am one with StarClan and paradise is near!"

Sparrowfight bounded ahead and twirled delightfully through the forest. "And I soar through a world that is new, that is free!"

Rainsong watched her best friend dancing happily among the trees. "Every word that he says is a claw in my heart," she whispered sorrowfully. Sparrowflight, who had already reached the meeting place, was hastily grooming himself and looking around.

"I my life…" the she-cat sighed with a fond look at the lovestruck tabby, "there is no one like him anywhere…_anywhere_…where he is. If he asked…I'd be his."

"In my life…" both cats mewed, "…there is someone who touches my life."

The bush behind Sparrowflight rustled. "Waiting here," meowed the tom.

"Waiting near…" murmured Rainsong.

Suddenly, two crystal-blue eyes appeared against the shadows. The eyes blinked slowly as they gazed curiously at Sparrowflight.

To the golden brown tom, it was seasons before the darkness slipped off the body of a graceful, lithe, and strikingly beautiful cream she-cat. The two cats locked eyes for a heartbeat before gingerly padding forward to touch noses.

Sparrowflight gulped. "A h-heart f-full of…love," he managed to stammer. "A heart full of song, I-I'm doing…_everything_ all wrong." The tom shook his head, flustered. "Oh, I'm being such a mouse brain…" Sparrowflight muttered. "I do not even know your name. My dear she-cat…won't you say, will you tell…"

"A heart full of love…" meowed the cream she-cat. Sparrowflight nearly stopped breathing. He was completely transfixed by the other cat's pure, sweet voice.

"No fear, no regret," continued the she-cat.

"My name is Sparrowflight…" murmured the golden brown tom.

"And mine's Larkheart," answered the cream she-cat.

"Larkheart," mewed Sparrowflight. "I don't know what to say!"

Larkheart smiled and gently paced her tail in front of the tom's mouth. "Then make no sound."

"I am lost…" sighed Sparrowflight.

"I am found!"

"A heart full of light..."

"A night bright as day!"

"And you must never go away," purred the golden brown tom delightedly, licking Larkheart's cheek. "Larkheart, Larkheart!"

"This is a bond we'll never break," mewed the she-cat.

"Do I dream…?"

"I'm awake!"

"A heart full of love," sighed the tomcat. To Sparrowflight, if felt like he and Larkheart were the only two cats in the forest.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

Rainsong watched all of this from the shadows with horrorstruck eyes. She could hardly keep herself from crying out with grief. Sparrowflight was her best friend … Rainsong had imagined a future with him. Now all of those dreams were shattered, along with her heart.

"He was never mine to lose…" whispered the blue-gray she-cat, as she watched the two cats in love.

"A heart full of you…" mewed Larkheart.

"Why regret what could not be?" choked Rainsong, shaking her head mournfully.

"A single look and then I knew!" Sparrowflight sighed.

"I knew it, too," purred Larkheart.

"These are words he'll never say…" mewed Rainsong. "Not to me…"

"From today…" meowed Sparrowflight to his beloved.

The blue-gray she-cat trembled and wrapped her tail around herself. "Not to me…not for me."

"Everyday…" whispered Larkheart.

"For it isn't a dream…" Larkheart and Sparrowflight mewed together.

"His heart full of love…" Rainsong wailed softly.

The golden brown tabby ran his tail along the cream she-cat's back as the two warriors lay side by side in love. "Not a dream…after all!" they meowed.

Rainsong padded away slowly, leaving the two lovers alone. "He will never feel this way…" she whispered.

* * *

**Author Note: Sorry, Rainsong. But you'll get the spotlight in the next chapter. **


	15. The Attack

**Author Note: Here it is, Rainsong, your shining moment. But not your crowning glory. (That's Chapter Eighteen.)**

**Chapter 15: The Attack**

* * *

Rainsong slinked back through the trees in the direction of the ThunderClan camp, lamenting her loss.

The blue-gray she-cat had barely gone five pawsteps when she collided with a dark gray tomcat.

"Boulderpelt, what are you doing so far out of our patch?" Rainsong meowed, flustered.

Boulderpelt smirked and motioned with his tail towards a brown tabby tom wandering in the woods, looking for something. "That cat," the gray tom hissed, "we're going to kill him!"

Rainsong gasped.

"You remember, he's the one who got away the other day!" continued Boulderpelt.

Boulderpelt dashed off to get the other members of the gang, leaving Rainsong all alone again.

"Great StarClan, somebody help me!" mewed the blue-gray she-cat. "Great StarClan, what'll I do? Sparrowflight will think it's an ambush!" Rainsong froze. "He'll think I'm in it too!"

The she-cat sighed exasperatedly. "What'll I do? What'll I say? I've got to warn them here…I've got to find a way!" Suddenly Rainsong's father and four other mangy rogues tromped through the bushes. The she-cat jumped and dashed behind a tree.

"This is the camp," snarled Sootclaw, motioning in the direction of Larkheart and Sparrowflight. Rainsong noticed that they were right behind the nursery.

"I've seen the old fox around," continued Sootclaw. "He keeps himself to himself. He's staying close to the ground." The silver tabby turned to Wolfclaw, a large black-and-white tom. "Ten moons ago he came and took Larkkit," muttered Sootclaw. "It's time we settled the debt. This'll cost him dear!"

"What do I care who you should kill?" growled Wolfclaw. "Gimme my share, finish the job!" Wolfclaw had joined Sootclaw's gang only for the rewards the silver tabby gave him for assisting in his crimes.

"Shut yer mouth!" snapped Sootclaw.

The black-and-white rogue flinched and bumped into Rainsong. "Who do we have here?" he sneered.

"Who is this she-cat?" asked Sootclaw.

"It's your brat, Rainsong!" answered Bramblethorn, a small mottled tabby tom. "Don't you know your own kit? Why's she hanging about you?"

"Rainsong, get going," muttered Sootclaw, whacking the she-cat with his tail. "You're not needed in this. We're enough here without you."

Rainsong grimaced. As much as she disliked Larkheart and wanted to tear her away from Sparrowflight, the blue-gray she-cat didn't have the heart to watch her father ruin the life of a cat so important to Sparrowflight.

"I know that cat, I tell you!" yowled Rainsong. "He isn't worth your time! Just an old one and a she-cat...they live ordinary lives!"

"Don't interfere!" growled Sootclaw, baring his teeth in his daughter's face. "You've got some nerve. Take care, young she-cat. You've got a lot to say!"

"She's going soft…" whispered Wolfclaw to a lean white tom with a long black tail.

"Happens to all," murmured the white tom, Nightmask.

"Go away, Rainsong," hissed Boulderpelt. "Go away."

Rainsong panted anxiously. "I'm gonna scream!" she mewed, her voice quavering. "I'm gonna warn them here!"

"One little scream and you'll regret it for ten moons," snarled Sootclaw.

"What an argument," chuckled Nightmask to himself. "What an absolute treat to watch a cat and her father pick a bone on the woods."

"Not a sound out of you!" hissed Wolfclaw, his tail thrashing against Nightmask's flank.

"Well, I told you I'd do it…" mewed Rainsong quietly. "Told you I'd do it..."

The she-cat took a deep breath and let out a deafening shriek that pierced every ear within half a tree-length.

"You, wait my she-cat!" growled Sootclaw, as Rainsong backed away hurriedly. "You'll rue this night! I'll make you scream, alright! Hurry away, don't wait around!"

The rest of the gang encircled the trembling young she-cat and unsheathed their claws in a single menacing sound.

"Leave her to _me_." sneered Sootclaw. At the sound of distant pawsteps, the silver tabby jumped. "Go away!" he ordered.

The gang scattered and went running in all different directions.

At that moment, Sparrowflight and Larkheart caught up with Rainsong. The golden brown tom gave the blue-gray she-cat a grateful lick on the ear.

"It was your cry that sent them away," mewed Sparrowflight. "Once more, Rainsong saving the day!" The tabby turned to his beloved.

"Dearest Larkheart," meowed Sparrowflight, "my friend Rainsong." The cream she-cat smiled and leaned forward to touch noses with Rainsong.

"She brought me to you," continued Sparrowflight, "and showed me the way."

Suddenly, the golden brown tom lowered his voice to a whisper. "Someone is near," he whispered. "Let's not be seen. Somebody's here!"

Sparrowflight and Rainsong swiftly bounded away, while Larkheart stayed put. She recognized that scent.

A large brown tabby hurried towards the cream she-cat and covered the side of her face with rapid licks.

"Larkheart, I've been looking _everywhere_ for you! Wherever in the forest have you been?" yowled the tabby.

"Eh…" murmured Larkheart, struggling to think of something to say. "Hunting," she mewed. "I was hunting."

"Great StarClan, Larkheart…" sighed the she-cat's father. "I heard a cry in the dark…I heard the shouts of angry voices in the woods!"

Larkheart gulped. She couldn't let her father know what she had been up to.

"…That was…_my_ cry you heard, father," mewed the cream she-cat. "I was afraid of what they'd do. They ran away when they heard my cry."

The tabby elder shook his head, exasperated. "Larkheart! What will become of you?"

"Three cats I saw beyond the trees!" the she-cat continued. "Three cats in shadow moving fast!"

Larkheart's father shook his head again and stomped back to camp, followed by his daughter.

"This is a warning to us all," grumbled the elder. "These are the shadows of the past!"

The dark brown tabby plopped down in the elders' den, nervous and agitated. "Must be Stoneheart!" muttered the tom. "He's found my cover at last! I've got to get Larkheart away before they return. We must get away from the shadows, they will never let us be!"

Larkheart had barely sat down in the warriors' den when her father pulled the she-cat out and took her aside.

"Hurry Larkheart, prepare to leave and say no more," he hissed.

Larkheart suddenly turned pale and her clear blue eyes grew wide with unmistakable distress. "No…" she whispered.

"Hurry, Larkheart!" growled the tabby. "It's time to end another tale and live another day."

"NO!" wailed the she-cat.

* * *

**Author Note:** **Here it is, folks, the midway point. Yes, we are exactly halfway through Les Meowsrables. If you've made it this far, congratulations for coping with me. Now brace yourself for another fifteen chapters.**

**EDIT: DANGIT I just found out that Nightmask is canon...oh well I like that name too much to change it. **


	16. One Day More

**Author Note: Triple yay! My favorite song! (Well, if writing fanfic upgrades me to the rank of uber Mizzie, I can safely say that every song is my favorite song...)**

* * *

**Chapter 16: One Day More **

"One day more…" whispered the tabby elder, waiting at the gorse tunnel for his daughter. "Another day, another destiny…this never ending path to misery. These cats who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time. One day more..."

. . .

Sparrowflight gasped and buried his face in Larkheart's fur after hearing her news. "I did not live until today!" he wailed. "How can I live when we are parted?"

. . .

"One day more…"

. . .

"Tomorrow you'll be worlds away…" mewed Sparrowflight and Larkheart, grieving over what looked like their last moments together. "And yet with you my world has started!"

A very satisfied Rainsong sighed in the corner of the warriors' den. "One more day all on my own…" she murmured.

"Will we _ever_ meet again?" moaned the cats in love.

"One more day with him not caring…" muttered the blue-gray she-cat.

"I was born to be with you!"

"What a life I might have known…"

"And I swear I will be true!"

"But he never saw me there…"

The golden brown tabby gave his sweetheart one last tender lick and a loving nuzzle before Larkheart padded slowly out of the warriors' den, watched by a heartbroken Sparrowflight.

. . .

"One more day before the storm!" yowled a very energetic Redstorm, firing up his buddies for the impending day.

"Do I follow where she goes?" murmured Sparrowlight, watching his friends' meeting from behind a tree. He was devastated at the loss of his beloved and was thinking of joining her, even though he didn't know where she was.

"…At the barricades of freedom!" continued Redstorm. Sparrowflight could almost feel the ginger tom's passion – it was spreading rapidly as the next day grew nearer.

"Shall I join my comrades there…?" wondered Sparrowflight.

"When our ranks begin to form…" meowed the ardent ginger tom.

"Do I stay?" mewed Sparrowflight. "Do I _dare_…?"

Suddenly, Redstorm turned in the golden brown tabby's direction. Sparrowflight held his breath and didn't move a hair on his pelt, afraid that the others would discover him.

Thankfully, the ginger tom seemed not to notice Sparrowflight. But his next meow made the tabby tom's fur bristle.

"Will you take your place with me?"

"The time is now!" answered the other toms, their eyes glowing with Redstorm's contagious passion. "The day is here!"

. . .

"One day more!"

. . .

Stoneheart stalked between the two rows of ShadowClan warriors, who were eagerly listening to the ThunderClan deputy.

"One more day to revolution. We will nip it in the bud!"

After Stoneheart was secretly notified of the imminent rebellion, he was kept awake in the warriors' den with thoughts of all of his 'loyal' Clanmates attacking their leader.

Desperate, the gray tabby tom had made a deal with the ShadowClan cats – help him crush the revolt…in exchange for daily tribute if they succeeded. The ShadowClan warriors had immediately agreed.

"We will join these unfledged warriors," continued the deputy. "They will wet themselves with blood!"

The ShadowClan cats yowled in agreement.

. . .

"_One day more!_"

. . .

"Watch 'em run amok," snickered Sootclaw to his mate, as they plotted behind a bush. "Catch 'em as they fall. Never know your luck when there's a free-for-all!" They were thinking of as many ways as they could to benefit from the revolution.

"Here a little dip," continued Applefoot. "There a little touch, most of 'em are goners so they won't miss much!"

. . .

"One day to a new beginning!" yowled a group of young warriors, preparing the things they needed for the next day.

"Raise your tails up to the sky!" called Sorreltongue, the medicine cat's apprentice, and three other cats, who were gathering herbs.

"We will have a leader now!" the warriors meowed.

"We will have a leader now!" the other cats repeated.

"There's a new world for the winning!"

"There's a new world to be won!"

The young warriors roared as one. "Do you hear the warriors meow?"

Suddenly, Sparrowflight dashed into the middle of the action, his tail thrashing and his eyes blazing.

"My place is here!" yowled the golden brown tabby. "I fight with you!"

The warriors cheered. Sparrowflight had proved his loyalty at last.

. . .

"ONE DAY MORE!"

The brown tabby did not seem to hear his daughter behind him, murmuring wistfully to herself. "I did not live until today…"

. . .

Rainsong gazed at Sparrowflight from a distance, as his eyes glowed with passion. Passion for his friends, for his Clan, for Larkheart…but definitely none for Rainsong. "One more day all on my own…" she sighed.

. . .

Redstorm's ears perked and the ginger tom sighed as he caught Sparrowflight muttering under his breath. "How can I live when we are parted…?" the tabby whispered.

. . .

Stoneheart was still finishing with his pep talk. "We will join these warriors' heroes, we will follow where they go," growled the deputy, hiding his worry and fear with a mask of cold, hard, ferocity.

"We will learn their little secrets, we will know the things they know!"

. . .

"_ONE DAY MORE!_"

. . .

Sparrowflight's mind was on his friends, but his heart was still thinking of his beloved. "Tomorrow you'll be worlds away…"

. . .

Rainsong curled her tail around her paws. "What a life I might have known…"

. . .

Larkheart and her father had settled down for the night in a cozy patch of moss, but the she-cat was far from comfortable. "And yet with you my world has started!"

. . .

"One day more to revolution, we will nip it in the bud!" continued Stoneheart, making sure his allies were all but unready to crush his Clan's rebellion. "We'll be ready for these warriors…"

. . .

"Watch 'em run amok," chuckled Sootclaw and Applefoot gleefully. "Catch 'em as they fall! Never know your luck when there's a free-for-all!"

. . .

"Tomorrow we'll be far away," muttered the tabby elder. "Tomorrow is the judgement day..."

. . .

A single voice made up of many cats could be heard throughout ThunderClan and beyond.

"Tomorrow we'll discover what StarClan has in store..."

"One more dawn!" yowled the she-cats.

"One more day!" answered all of the toms.

Every voice in ThunderClan merged into one. "ONE...DAY..._MORE_!"

* * *

**Author Note: Random fun fact - During my Intensive Naming Session, the character of Sparrowflight was very nearly named Redmane. Now that would have been funny... **


	17. Building the Barricade

**Author Note: I don't think anyone's going to pay attention to this chapter...everyone wants On My Own, riiiight?**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Building the Barricade (Upon This Grass) **

Redstorm stood proudly in front of the growing barricade, admiring his friends' hard work. As soon as Kestrelstar, Stoneheart, and a group of other cats had left for the Gathering, the young warriors had set to work piling branches, leaves, rocks and other things, blocking off the gorse tunnel.

"Here upon this grass," Redstorm meowed solemnly, "we will build our barricade outside of the camp we claim as our own! Each cat to his duty, and don't be afraid."

The ginger tom paused suddenly. "Wait," he muttered to Sagepelt. "We will need a report on the strength of the foe." Sagepelt nodded gravely, dropped his branch, and was about to set off.

"I can find out the truth!" a voice called out from behind the trees. Every cat turned around to find a large brown tom with clumpy fur standing stiffly behind them. "I know their ways," continued the tom. "Fought against them. Served my time in the days of my youth."

"Now the warriors will fight!" mewed Cloudheart excitedly.

"And so they might," added Berryfur, in between bites of mouse. "Dogs will bark, fleas will bite."

"They will do what is right!" yowled Eagletail.

No cat except Sparrowflight noticed a quiet rustling in the bushes. "Hey, what's this I see?" wondered the golden brown tabby.

Suddenly, a blue-gray she-cat popped out of the leaves. "Great StarClan, Rainsong!" meowed Sparrowflight exasperatedly. "The things you do!"

"I know this is no place for me," whispered Rainsong. "Still, I would rather be with you."

"Get out before the trouble starts!" hissed Sparrowflight. "Get out, Rainsong, you might be killed!"

The blue-gray she-cat only giggled shyly. "I've got you worried now, I have! That shows you like me quite a lot!"

Sparrowflight was at a loss for words. He would probably never see his beloved again, and he didn't want to lose his best friend either.

"There is a way that you can help!" the golden brown tabby finally mewed. "You are the answer to a prayer! Take a message to Larkheart. StarClan knows if she's still here!"

Rainsong's cheerful smile fell as Sparrowflight relayed his words for Larkheart.

The golden brown tabby thanked his friend as the she-cat slinked off into the darkening forest. "Little you know…" she whispered softly. "Little you care."

. . .

"I have a message for your daughter, Larkheart."

The brown tabby tom's eyes shifted, and he frowned skeptically at the small blue-gray she-cat in front of him. This was not what he was expecting.

"It's from a warrior at the barricades," continued the messenger.

"Tell me, then," mewed the large tom.

"He said to give it to Larkheart," insisted the she-cat.

The tabby paused uncomfortably. "You have my word that my daughter will know what the message contains. "

The slim blue-gray warrior took a deep breath and began.

"'Dearest Larkheart, you have entered my soul and soon you will be gone,'" the she-cat slowly recited. "'Can it be only a sunrise since we met and the world was reborn? If I should fall in the battle to come let this be my goodbye.'"

The blue-gray cat took one more quivering breath. "'Now that I know…that you love me as well it is harder to die. I hope StarClan will bring me home to be with you. Think of your Sparrowflight. He thinks of you.'"

The slight shadow of a she-cat stood waiting in front of the large brown tom. The tabby blinked rapidly, then shivered and regained his composure. "Tell…tell the warrior she will hear it tomorrow," snapped the tom.

Before she could say anything, a plump thrush landed beside the blue-gray warrior. "And here's for your pains," mewed the tabby. "Go careful now, stay out of sight. There's danger in the woods tonight."

The brown tom flashed a quick smile and motioned for the she-cat to get going.

Dejected, she padded shivering into the cold misty night air.

* * *

**Author Note: Patience, dear Eppie-boppers. Patience. **


	18. On My Own

**Author Note: I'm baaa-aack! And guess what? It's the chapter I'm pretty sure everyone's been waiting for! A reward for your patience, Eppie-boppers. **

**(By the way, to be blunt, I'm pretty much using this chapter as a dumping ground to try out some cool metaphors I thought of. :P)**

* * *

**Chapter 18: On My Own**

Raindrops dotted the she-cat's blue-gray pelt as she padded silently towards camp.

Rainsong suddenly paused as she looked around. Overwhelmed and lost, she longed for the familiar brush of Sparrowflight's fur and his comforting scent.

The she-cat sighed. "And now I'm all alone again. Nowhere to turn, no cat to go to."

Rainsong paused in the shadow of a large tree. "Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to. But now the night is near, and I can make believe he's here." The blue-gray she-cat gave her wet, bristling fur a few quick licks as she calmed down.

"Sometimes I walk alone at night, when everybody else is sleeping…I think of him and then I'm happy with the company I'm keeping." Rainsong let out a contented sigh.

"The forest goes to sleep…and I can live inside my head."

The she-cat padded wearily towards the soft, comforting glow of the full moon.

"On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone, I walk with him till morning. Without him, I feel his fur against me, and when I lose my way I close my eyes…and he has found me." Rainsong sighed, imagining Sparrowflight beside her, guiding her back to the barricade.

The trembling she-cat glanced at the damp grass beneath her paws and found herself at the edge of ThunderClan territory, gazing across the border towards RiverClan."In the rain…the puddles sparkle silver. All the stars are misty in the river…in the darkness, the trees are full of starlight. And all I see is him and me, forever and forever."

Claws of grief tore at Rainsong's aching heart as the sky pelted her with raindrops.

"And…I know…it's only in my mind," whispered the she-cat, her soft mew fighting back a mournful wail. "That I'm talking to myself…and not to him. And although I know that he is blind…still I say there's a way for us…"

"I love him," Rainsong wailed, "but when the night is over…he is gone! The river's just a river." The poor she-cat was soaked to the bone. "Without him, the world around me changes! The trees are bare and everywhere the woods are full of strangers!"

The blue-gray she-cat curled up against a bush, its leaves a pitiful substitute for Sparrowflight's soft, warm fur and gentle touch. "I love him, but everyday I'm learning…"

Rainsong shook violently. "All my life, I've only been pretending!"

The rain softened, and the she-cat got to her paws. "Without me, his world will go on turning…" before Rainsong could stop it, a torrent of thoughts washed over her. All visions of Sparrowflight and Larkheart happy, proud, and…together. Without her.

"A world that's full of happiness that I have never known…!"

Rainsong could hear the young warriors now…and there was Kestrelstar and his cats! Padding towards them!

The blue-gray she-cat raced towards the barricade to warn her friends. She could see Sparrowflight by himself. He would believe her. He would always be her best friend…but nothing more.

The she-cat suddenly stopped to watch the tom from a distance, resting his head dreamily on his paws. "I love him…" she choked. "I love him…I _love_ him!"

Rainsong looked carefully towards the young warriors. They looked ready.

A step forward…a step back.

"But only…on my own."

* * *

**Author Note: ** **Awww,** **poor Eponine. Your parents and your best friend may not love you, but I'm pretty sure most of the fandom does. :) **


	19. Stoneheart's Arrival

**Author Note: 1100 views, people! No way! Thanks, everyone! **

* * *

**Chapter 19: At the Barricade (Upon This Grass)/Stoneheart's Arrival**

Right after Rainsong had left, Sparrowflight quickly got to work helping his friends.

Before long, the barricade was built.

Redstorm gathered all of the warriors at the base of their creation. "Now we pledge ourselves to hold this barricade," the tom mewed gravely. "Let them come in their legions and they will be met! Have faith in yourselves and don't be afraid."

"Let's give 'em a battle they won't forget!" added Berryfur.

Sorreltongue mewed in agreement. "This is where it begins!"

"And if I should die in the fight for a leader," meowed Sunblaze, "where the fighting is hardest, there I will be!"

"Let them come if they dare!" yowled Eagletail.

The voices of all nine cats joined together in harmony. "We'll be there!"

Suddenly, the warriors found Kestrelstar in front of them. He had returned.

And he was furious.

"You of the barricade listen to this," rasped an older ThunderClan warrior. "No cat is coming to help you fight."

The young cats glanced at each other, reassuring themselves that the senior warrior was wrong.

"You're on your own," continued the tom. "You have no friends. Give up your cause or die!" The younger warriors stood steadfast, fixed to their barricade.

Undeterred, Redstorm turned to his friends. "Forget their warnings, forget their lies!" yowled the ardent ginger tom. "They will see the warriors rise!"

The warriors flexed their claws, poised to battle their leader, but he unexpectedly turned and left with the other cats.

Confused but strangely relieved, the young cats sat in bewildered silence.

Just then, the warriors heard a shuffling sound coming from behind the trees. The brown tom had returned.

"Listen my friends, I have done as I said," mewed the dark tom. "I have been to their lines, I have counted each cat. I will tell what I can."

Every warrior including Redstorm perked their ears, intrigued by the mysterious tom's untold secrets.

The cat cleared his throat. "Better beware, they have warriors to spare and the danger is real. We will need all our cunning to bring them to yield."

Most of the young warriors glanced uneasily at each other with newfound uncertainty.

Redstorm, though, stood indomitable. "Have faith!" he meowed to his friends. "If we know what their movements are, we'll spoil their game. There are ways that we warriors can fight. We will overcome their power!" A few cats purred satisfactorily, encouraged by Redstorm's confident words.

"I have overheard their plans," the dark tom mewed suddenly. "There will be no attack tonight." For once, Redstorm stood speechless in front of his barricade.

"They intend to starve us out," continued the mysterious tom, "before they start a proper fight. Concentrate their force...hit us from the right."

For a single moment, a twinge of disappointment hung over the barricade.

"_Liar!_" a voice squeaked.

Cloverpaw pushed his way past the warriors and looked the dark brown tom straight in the eye. "Good evening good old warrior, lovely evening my dear," the apprentice mocked.

Cloverpaw turned back to the warriors. "I know this cat, my friends! His name is Stoneheart!" The dark brown tom and some of the warriors gave the black-and-white apprentice a flustered look before Cloverpaw tackled the mysterious tom.

A brown tom fell down into a rain puddle, and a gray tabby stood up.

An audible gasp came from the barricade and all eyes were on the deputy as wet soot and soil dripped from his pelt.

"So don't believe a word he meows 'cause none of it's true!" continued Cloverpaw. "This only goes to show what we warriors can do! And warriors know when warriors fight."

"We may look easy pickings but we've got some bite," mewed Cloverpaw, baring his teeth in Stoneheart's face for extra emphasis. "So don't ignore a cat because he's just a kit! We'll fight like twenty warriors and we won't give up. So you better run for cover when the kit grows up!"

Berryfur gave his apprentice an affectionate tail flick on the ear. "Bravo, little Cloverpaw, you're the top of the class!" the brown tabby purred.

"So what are we going to do with this fox-hearted deputy?" asked Cloudheart.

"Take this cat over there," Redstorm mewed, motioning with his tail towards a small ditch. "The warriors will decide your fate, Stoneheart!"

"Take the furball now and kill him!" growled Whitefeather.

"Let us watch the mouse-brain writhe!" added Eagletail.

Stoneheart watched the warriors confusedly with fire in his eyes. "You'd have done the same, Stoneheart, if we let you have your chance!" meowed Sunblaze boldly.

"Kill me now or kill me later," snarled the deputy. "Every warrior to his game. Death to each and every traitor! I renounce the warrior's cause."

"Though we may not all survive here," mewed Sagepelt, "there are things that never die!"

"What's the difference?" yowled Berryfur. "Die a warrior, die a deputy, die a spy!"

Redstorm silenced the warriors. "Take this cat, bring him through. There is work we have to do!"

* * *

**Author Note: From now on, I'm not going to be updating as often…you'll see why soon enough! **

**By the way, if anyone noticed, Lesgle is a black cat. (Teehee, couldn't resist that one)  
**


	20. A Little Fall of Rain

**Author Note: Alrighty here... this is one of the most heartbreaking songs in the musical! I nearly cried while writing this. Personally, I prefer the book and movie version of this song (It's so sweet! But a lot sadder), so that's the one I wrote. I hope this chapter does it justice...**

* * *

******Chapter 20: A Little Fall of Rain**

All heads turned to the senior ThunderClan warrior stalking through the undergrowth.

"Still here?" he sneered. "We told you to put away your claws."

"Never!" yowled Redstorm confidently. "We'll stand by our cause until the very end!"

"The end, eh?" mewed the senior warrior. All of a sudden, the gray cat hurled himself at Redstorm. The ginger tom countered back with a front paw blow. The senior warrior swiped at Redstrom's shoulder, drawing blood. "Consider this a warning from Kestrelstar!" hissed the gray tom.

Sunblaze, defending his friend, abruptly pounced onto the senior warrior until he too was struck down. Sparrowflight impulsively dashed over to fight for his friends. The tabby tom tore at the senior warrior's belly, but was soon smothered by the bigger tom.

Blindly, Sparrowflight slashed and clawed at the senior warrior. At that moment, he knew nothing but searing pain and wet gray fur. Another young warrior was straining to yank the gray cat off of him, but he held fast onto Sparrowflight's bloodstained golden brown pelt. The tabby tom didn't know how much longer he could keep it up.

Suddenly, Sparrowflight opened his eyes to a sight he never hoped he would see…

Claws plunging straight towards his throat.

Sparrowflight's terrified amber eyes dove under his eyelids as the golden brown tabby awaited a painful death.

A fierce caterwaul erupted in Sparrowflight's ears. A heavy weight grazed his fur, and the other warrior disappeared.

The ThunderClan tabby lay worn and weary on the soft ground, and he anxiously half wondered if StarClan had come for him. Cautiously, Sparrowflight blinked open an eye.

Rainsong lay before him, panting. The dark gray warrior was slumped behind her, gasping, as he was swiftly attacked and chased off by the other young toms.

Sparrowflight rushed over to the blue-gray she-cat. "Great StarClan, what are you doing?" the tabby yowled astonishingly, pelting the overwhelmed she-cat with more hurried questions. "Rainsong, have you no fear? Have you seen my beloved? Why have you come back here?"

"Took the message like you said…" the she-cat choked, breathing heavily. "…met her father in place of her. He said he would give it…" Rainsong trembled violently and collapsed in front of Sparrowflight.

"Don't think I can stand…anymore."

"Rainsong, what's wrong?" asked Sparrowflight worriedly, crouching down to smooth her bristling fur with his tail. "Oh, there's something wet upon your fur…"

The golden brown tabby suddenly let out a wail of anguish. The grass under his paws had been stained red by a growing pool from underneath Rainsong's chest.

"Rainsong, you're hurt! You need some help!" cried Sparrowflight, as the puddle of blood beneath the she-cat stretched across her pelt.

"Great StarClan…" gasped the tom. "It's everywhere!"

Rainsong purred peacefully at the anxious tabby as raindrops dappled their pelts.

"Don't you fret…" the she-cat whispered. "…My dear Sparrowflight. I don't feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now."

Sparrowflight gave his friend a confused, worried look as the she-cat went on.

"You're here…that's all I need to know. And you will keep me safe…and you will keep me close…and rain will make the flowers grow." Rainsong licked her chest fur, believing that it was rain and that Sparrowflight was distressed because she was so wet.

"But you will live, Rainsong!" meowed the golden brown tabby. "Dear StarClan above! If I could heal your wounds with mews of love…"

"Just hold me now and let it be," breathed Rainsong. "Shelter me…comfort me."

Sparrowflight licked the she-cat's ear. "You would live a hundred moons if I could show you how. I won't desert you now!"

"The rain can't hurt me now," Rainsong purred. "This rain will wash away what's past. And you will keep me safe…and you will keep me close…I'll curl up by your side at last!"

The blue-gray she-cat's sparkling green eyes aimed straight at Sparrowflight as the rain drenched her glistening fur. "The rain that brings you here is StarClan blessed! The skies begin to clear…and I'm at rest. A breath away from where you are. I've come home from so far…"

Sparrowflight was about to signal Sorreltongue, the medicine cat apprentice, but Rainsong pulled him back.

"Hush-a-bye, dear Rainsong. You won't feel any pain…" murmured the tabby tom.

"A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now…" sighed the blue-gray she-cat.

Sparrowflight nudged Rainsong's shoulder with his muzzle. "I'm here."

"That's all I need…to know," whispered the she-cat.

"And I will stay with you," Sparrowflight reassured his friend.

"And you…will keep…me safe," Rainsong rasped.

"…Till you are sleeping," the tabby tom mewed back.

The blue-gray she-cat sighed contentedly. "And…rain…"

"And rain!" Sparrowflight meowed quickly.

"Will…make…the flowers…" Rainsong purred softly, gazing one last time into her best friend's warm amber eyes.

"Will make the flowers…."

Sparrowflight watched quietly as Rainsong's glistening green eyes closed for the last time.

For a moment, the golden brown tabby tom could barely find the words.

"…Grow…"

Sparrowflight slowly placed a gentle lick on his loyal best friend's soft, wet forehead, then retreated to a corner of the barricade.

"She is the first to fall…" murmured Redstorm. "The first of us to fall upon this barricade."

"Her name was Rainsong," Sparrowflight answered gravely. "Her life was cold and dark…yet she was unafraid."

Sagepelt nodded knowingly and touched his tail to Sparrowflight's shoulder. "We fight here in her name," he announced.

"She will not die in vain," assured Cloudheart.

Eagletail padded over to join Redstorm, and the two toms pulled Rainsong's body off. "She will not be betrayed."

Suddenly, a cold chill rustled every warrior's pelt. When Sparrowflight looked close enough, he could see the outline of a lithe, graceful she-cat gliding out of the forest. The drizzling rain hardly made a dot on her pelt.

The she-cat turned her head to face the golden brown tabby. She paralyzed him with one more loving look, and then, with a soaring leap, faded into the stars forever.

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**Author Note: *Snf* Notgonnacrynotgonnacry...BWAAAAAAA!  
**


	21. The First Attack

******Author Note: Hey there! Sorry that I haven't updated for such a looooooong time. I've just been really busy. And also tired. (**School does that to ya.) Hope this chapter makes up for it...

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**Chapter 21: Night of Anguish/The First Attack**

A lone warrior padded warily towards the barricade, his pelt coated with the unmistakable stench of ShadowClan.

Sorreltongue bolted up, fur bristling. The russet tom scampered towards the other cats to alert them of the intruder, but the ShadowClan scent had clearly already brushed their noses.

"Here comes a ShadowClan cat!" hissed Sorreltongue.

The intruder stopped immediately, the moonrise shadows masking his features.

"What brings you to this place?" yowled Sorreltonge from atop the barricade.

The old tom blinked slowly. "I come here as a volunteer," he rasped.

Sorreltongue narrowed his eyes. "Approach and show your face."

The intruder slowly padded forward, the moonlight gradually revealing his aging face.

"You reek of ShadowClan," growled Cloudheart.

The old tom paused for a moment. "That's why they let me in."

Sorreltongue turned to the other warriors, then spoke to the older tom. "You look like you have many seasons behind you."

"There's much that I can do," the intruder mewed.

"You see that warrior over there?" snapped Sorreltongue, motioning with his tail towards Stoneheart. The deputy was surrounded by cats keeping him under guard.

"A volunteer like you!" yowled Berryfur.

"Our deputy had been spying," added Sagepelt.

Berryfur flexed his claws. "He's going to get it too!"

Suddenly, Eagletail scampered up the barricade, nearly knocking the other cats over.

"Kestrelstar and his warriors!" hissed the black tom. "They're getting ready to attack!"

Redstorm quickly led the older tom behind the barricade. "We trust your experience," the ginger meowed. "But if you hurt one of my friends, you'll never live to tell!"

Sunblaze stuck his head behind the barricade. "Kestrelstar and his cats are advancing towards the camp!"

"More behind them!" yowled Cloudheart. "At least five!"

"_Attack!"_

The young warriors whipped around to find Kestrelstar and his cats in front of them.

Redstorm had thought Kestrelstar had retreated…but there, right behind the senior ThunderClan warriors, was every warrior in ShadowClan.

"Warriors!" yowled Redstorm. "Attack!"

The barricade exploded in whirls of flying fur and splattered blood.

Suddenly, Redstorm's agonizing wail rang out over the chaos. Just in time, the old tom shoved aside a ShadowClan warrior who was about to pounce on the ginger warrior. Whitefeather promptly jumped in to claw the ShadowClan cat to shreds.

Meanwhile, Sunblaze had leapt onto Kestrelstar and was tearing viciously at his pelt. The old leader screeched in pain. "Retreat!" yowled Kestrelstar. "_Retreat!_"

The other cats obediently sheathed their claws and followed their leader out of the clearing.

Eagletail panted breathlessly as the warrior he was battling slinked away to join Kestrelstar. "See how they run away!" sneered the black tom.

"Great StarClan, we've won the battle!" cried Berryfur.

"They will be back again," Redstorm warned solemnly. "They'll make an attack again."

Redstorm turned gratefully to the old tom. "For your presence of mind and the deed you have done, I will thank you when the battle is won."

The old tabby only nodded. "Give me no thanks," he rasped. "There is something you can do."

"If it is in my power," Redstorm promised.

The tabby hesitated. "Give me the spy, Stoneheart. Let _me_ take care of him."

Redstorm turned to his battle-weary friends. Two of the young warriors came forward with the deputy, who slumped to the ground in defeat.

The ginger warrior nodded to the old tom. "Do what you have to do. The cat belongs to you."

As the old tom marched of with the deputy, Redstorm scurried back up the barricade. "The enemy may be regrouping! Hold yourself in readiness. Come, my friends, back to your positions. The night is falling fast!"

And with that, the elder and his prisoner slipped into the shadows.

It wasn't until the two toms were nearing the Thunderpath before either spoke.

"We meet again," the old tabby mewed simply.

"You've hungered for this all your life," croaked Stoneheart. "Take your revenge…"

The old tom slowly backed away from the fierce deputy. "You talk too much. Your life is safe in my care."

The deputy's eyes narrowed into dull yellow slits. "Don't understand…"

"Get out of here!" the old convict hissed.

"Thrushclaw, take care!" Stoneheart snarled. "I'm warning you…"

"Clear out of here!" Thrushclaw growled fiercely.

The old deputy turned to leave, but suddenly whipped back around to face his former prisoner. "Once a thief, forever a thief! What you want, you always steal! You would trade your life for mine. Yes, Thrushclaw, you want a deal!"

Stoneheart bared his teeth menacingly in the convict's old, weary face. "Kill me now, for all I care. If you let me go, beware! You'll still answer to Stoneheart!"

Thrushclaw took a long, deep, breath before answering to Stoneheart's bewildered scowl.

"You are wrong, and always have been wrong. I'm a cat, no worse than any cat. You are free, and there are no conditions. No bargains or petitions."

The old convict took a step backwards. "There's nothing that I blame you for," he purred. "You've done your duty, nothing more."

The aged deputy heaved a long, deep sigh, and with one last resentful glare, bounded swiftly out of Thrushclaw's sight.

. . .

Whitefeather's head sprang up from his paws as he detected a familiar scent. "The elder's back!"

The young warriors glanced eagerly at the old tom, whose claws were washed with blood. "Done," the tabby mewed.

Redstorm, standing smugly at the head of the barricade, nodded to the elder.

The older tom purred as he licked the remnants of his meal from his long, pure, claws.

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**Author Note: Teehee! It's time for a game of spot the book reference! **


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